An Upstart

A film picturing the lives and adversities of fishermen who live and die in the sea.

Ha Dong, Kyung Nam Province in 1890. Choi Chi-Su's family is a grand land lord of the region from generation to generation. His mother Mrs. Yoon gives birth to another son Hwan after she was raped by Kim Gae-Ju when he is 10 years old. Later Hwan becomes a servant of Choi family but he falls in love with Chi-Su's wife and they flee by night. Meanwhile after a reign of 40 years of King Ko Jong, cholera prevails all over the country and years of famine follows it. While people suffer from natural disasters and diseases, one of Chi-Su's maternal relative Cho Jun-Ku and his wife make a plot to take Choi family's enormous wealth and strengthen the foundation for his status. In this chaos some villagers and Seo-Hee, Chi-Su's daughter leave their village for Buk Kan Do.

Recently discharged Chan-Woo receives a letter of will from ex-acquaintance and leaves for her hometown carrying her ashes with him. As he starts to reminiscent about the girl and prepares for her religious service, he meets mysterious innkeeper Jin-Kyung. He senses genuine love from her, discovering matured self in the process.

Yeong-Ho is a son of second wife and enters his stepmother's as an heir. His stepbrother, Young-Min, is physically weak and frequently gets sick even by minor shock. To get away his girl friend, Myeong-Suk, Young-Ho makes Young-Min approach her. Myeong-Suk, who found something lacked in Young-Ho, starts a long journey with Young-Min. At that moment, Young-Ho suffers form the loneliness and longing for Myeong-Suk. At last, Young-Ho starts to look for her. Time passes, and Young-Ho decides to return his home, knowing that Young-Min has the qualification to inherit. On his departure day, Young-Ho calls Myeong-Suk, confessing his love and asking her to come back to him.

At the end of the Japanese rule, Jeom-Rye, a daughter of a poor farmer, bares a son of a Japanese policeman Yamada, but she gets married to Park Hang-Koo and lives a happy life with their daughter, Se-Yeon, after Yamada and his son run away after Liberation of Korea. During the Korean War, Hang dies and then, she happens to meet Flanders, a lieutenant of the U.S. Army. She bears a mixed-blood son but lets him go with Flanders returning to U.S. Yamada's son and Flanders II, who became American soldiers, come to Jeom-Rye, who is working on a farm with Se-Yeon who grows up now. Accepting the past and present situations, Jeom-Rye behaves wisely. While Se-Yeon is meeting Flanders II, she cries with rage for the Communist Party.

Lee, Yun-bok in his fourth grade lives in a poor family. His father is indulged in gambling, and his mother, who can no longer tolerate the cruelty of her husband, leaves home. Yet, Yun-bok comforts his younger brothers, makes a poor living by shining shoes, and keeps his journal everyday.

Under false pretenses, Zhenzhen marries Mr. Lin, who happens to be her teacher. She wants to still study and wants to enroll in his school in Hong Kong. The head of the school agrees to this under the condition that they conceal the fact that they are married. Zhenzhen finds out right away that her husband is fawned over by the girls, they all have a crush on him, as also does the spinster librarian. However, Mr. Lin finds that that the boys in the school (they are late teens, 17 or so) really like Zhenzhen. This leads to hurt feelings, questions about fidelity and even, in Zhenzhen's case, innocuous dates with one of the boys who rides a motorcycle.

Lee Mun-hi works as a bus conductor. She is tormented by the fact that she is subject to body searches, but tries to treat her co-workers nicely and live an honest life. She is kind to people who are less fortunate than her and falls in love with Kwang-seok, a traveling salesman. She helps Kwang-seok become a crewman of the ship and promises to marry him. When she is subjected to another body search, she protests against the humiliation and jumps from the roof of her company building. She is critically injured and is embraced by Kwang-seok.

Chun-sam is working as a servant at Bong-pil's home to be his future son in-law. His daughter, Jeom-sun has grown enough to get wed. But her father thinks she is too young. But in reality he doesn't want to set her daughter with Chun-sam to begin with. Jeom-sun finds out, and picks up a fight with her father. When Chun-sam decides to play hard on his master, Jeom-sun takes Chun-sam's side.

An overworked female executive is haunted by strange dreams. She is compelled to travel to a remote fishing village where she is inexplicably kidnapped and sold to a peasant farmer on a remote island.

Hye-rim is a model prisoner serving out her sentence for murder. With two years left to go, she gets a special outing. Hye-rim gets on a train to Kang-reung to visit her mother's grave. At the place, she meets Min-gi, a young man running away after being involved in a crime organization. Min-gi's persistence melts the heart that was hardened in jail. Hye-rim and Min-gi fall in love.

While the students, full of vigor in their twenties, make a stand against their parents who regard dating as a sin, they enjoy their springtime of life to the full showing affection in their own way. In the meantime, their parents get to understand them and their children receive their parents' blessing.

Yun Gi-jun has become the executive director of a pharmaceutical company by marrying the widowed daughter of the company CEO. With the general shareholders’ meeting coming up shortly, his wife suggests that he visit his hometown of Mujin and he takes her advice.

During the Korean War, a widow living in a village in a mountainous region in the South of the Korean Peninsula that has lost most of its men to the war finds a Communist guerilla gone AWOL hiding in a bamboo grove and develops a relationship with him.