An epic tale of love and sacrifice unfolds in an era of turmoil. The time is 1943. Drawn together by their shared ideals, rebellious girl Chiu Hsueh and gifted student Li Chun-Hsien fall in love and marry, but they are forced apart by the February 28 Incident. Chun-Hsien is exiled to Korea, while Chiu Hsueh and their daughter must live under concealed identities during the White Terror. After several decades, a letter from Korea reveals long-hidden secrets. In this turbulent age of chaos, the untold stories of two generations and three households recount a tale of unfailing love and selfless sacrifice.

A-Tai (Alan Ko) narrates that he is the son of Uncle Da (Chen Po-cheng) and Aunt Da (Samantha Ko), who run a troupe in Taichung. Uncle Da's troupe does traditional performance in front of religious processions. The religion requires performers to "initiate the faces and pose as gods"—to put on a special face painting, or to put on a heavy body puppet costume, both of these represent gods' persona. The performance demands training of martial art, acrobatics and endurance, and the performers are negatively associated with gangsters by the society. Uncle Da has been competing with Wu-cheng (Liao Jun), who studied with Uncle Da under the same master. A-Tai grew estranged with his father and the troupe, and went to Taipei to study Rock music, until a mysterious old man in blue coat bids him home.