Towards the end of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor tells Princess Changping to select her husband, and Zhou Shixian, the son of the Minister of Coachman, becomes the chosen. However, the capital falls to the rebels when Shixian is being ennobled at the Palace. Emperor Chongzhen puts his wives to death before killing his daughters with his sword. Then, he hangs himself at Meishan.

The Princess, having been wounded by her father, is rescued by Zhou Zhong. Knowing her father and brother’s plot to surrender the Princess to the Qing Emperor, Zhong’s daughter Ruilan, assisted by an old nun, helps the Princess disguise as the deceased nun Weiqing and live in seclusion. A year later, passing by the nunnery, Shixian comes across the Princess picking firewoods as a nun. After a few queries of her true identity, Shixian reunites with the Princess and arranges to meet her again that night.

As Shixian comes for the Princess with Zhong and his son Baolun at the Purple Jade Villa, Shixian persuades her to go back to the palace with him and beg the Qing Emperor to give a decent burial for her father and release her brother. With their wishes granted, the princess and Shixian ask for their wedding ritual to be performed under the camphor tree. Then, they both take poison and sacrifice for their country.

King of Northern Qi has been murdered for his throne. Xia Yunlong & Mao Delin gather to protect the crown prince fleeing to Northern Wei to escape from this disaster, yet being captured at Zhao He Guan. Turns out the commander in chief is Yunlong’s fiancée He Caifeng. He Feihu offers to be the witness of their marriage.Feihu is the Royal princess’ husband. Unfortunately, his wife died in the early years. For the sake of his son, Feihu marries Yunlong’s sister Xia Yunxiang. In order to regain the throne, Yunlong begs his wife for the token of military control. Then Delin instigates Chaoming to disturb the newlywed, in order to obtain Feihu’s armory’s key. With the force, Yunlong & Delin successfully defeated the Northern Qi’s army. Because of this military action,Feihu’s father is convicted, Feihu blames Chaoming for this. To save their father, the He’s argue with the Xia’s at court. Kao threats Xia to retrieve the army, Madame Xia commits suicide to encourage her son to terminate the evil. The crown prince eventually regains power, the generous prince then agrees to surrender part of the city to King of Northern Wei in order to atone for the Xia’s crime.

Wen Cuijun’s father is implicated by a corrupted court official and she resorted to hide with the Xiao family. The evening before the battle between Chu and Qi, Cuijun and General Liu Xiaotian engage. However, Xiao Yue’e also wishes to express her love to Xiaotian but she get drunk and is violated by Luo Wenlong, a spy and also a prince from Kingdom Chu. While Chou Shangyi was taking a break from the military camp, Lady Chou forced him to marry Yue’e, but the bride gives birth on the wedding day. Cuijun claims the baby is hers in order to save Yue’e and is force to be banished. Shangyi reveals to Yue’e that he is injured during the battle and had become impotent and promises the marriage is only for show. In the battlefield, Wenlong is rescued by Cuijun and he makes her a General Commander to fight against Xiaotian. Cuijun wins and Xiaotian is captured. Xiaotian is tried within the camp of Kingdom Chu and Yue’e insisted that Xiaotian is the father of her baby. Luckily, Lady Chou is able to prove her wrong by the dripping blood method. Wenlong finally admit that Yue’e’s baby was his. Xiaotian’s name is clear and he reunites with Cuijun.

Yu Fengsheng, a scholar, adores a courtesan called Hua Yanhong. One day, he puts on his best clothes and pays a visit to her and the two fall in love with each other instantly. He promises to marry her after he has passed the imperial examination. Later they say goodbye at a riverside. He gives her a round fan made of gold as a keepsake, and the two vows to spend the rest of their lives together.

Fengsheng’s parents died when he was young, so he was brought up by his father’s concubine, Sijie. Now that he comes first in the imperial examination, as a devoted son and a loyal subject, he requests the emperor to honour Sijie with an appropriate title. Returning home in glory, he is told off by his mother and his sister Mingyue, both of whom have heard stories about his relationship with a courtesan. Sijie has Mingyue forge a letter and return the keepsake to break off the engagement. Yanhong is so grieved by the thought that Fengsheng has betrayed her that she decides to become a nun.

Seeing how lovesick Fengsheng is, Sijie and Mingyue go to a nunnery to pray for him. There they catch sight of a poem written on the wall. Admiring the poet for her talent, Sijie wants to match Fengsheng and the poet together and asks the emperor for permission. It turns out that the poet is none other than Yanhongand Fengsheng is overjoyed. The story resolves in the marriage of the lovers.

Sima Zhongxian and Liu Rushuang are lovers. On the eve of Zhongxian’s expeditionary errand, the lovers, without their parents’ knowledge, exchange an armour and a flute as betrothal gifts. However, Zhongxian’s elder, handicapped brother Boling, who also loves Rushuang, forces his stepmother to match them. Besides, Li Meizhu intends to separate the lovers because she has had a crush on Zhongxian. Unwillingly, Rushuang agrees to marry Boling out of gratitude to the Sima family.

With Rushuang’s brother Mengxiong, Zhongxian returns home in triumph and is shocked at the wedding of Rushuang and Boling. Since his lover becomes his sister-in-law, Zhongxian returns Rushuang the armour and refuses to run away with her. Having discovered their secret, Boling scolds Rushuang but is taunted in return. Overwhelmed with anger, Boling runs away from home.

Worrying about Boling, Madame Sima gets sick. One day, Boling is seen begging in the street by Madame Sima, but he refuses to go back with her. After Zhongxian returns home with the title of a noble, Boling reprimands Madame Sima for spoiling him. Madame Sima begins to realize her wrongness for spoiling Boling and mistreating Zhongxian. Boling, having experienced the hardships of life, agrees to settle the grudges with Zhongxian and part with Rushuang for the sake of reuniting the family.

Village girl Bai Lixiang and her brother Bai Zhicheng depend on each other in life. Lixiang saved the wounded general Wei Jianhun. They get married and Lixiang is pregnant afterwards. Originally the Prince of Western Liang, Jianhun bids farewell to his wife and sets off to borrow armed forces from the country of Eastern Qi with Zhicheng. He promises to return by the time swallows are back.

While Princess Shanhu discovers Zhicheng is disguised as a prince, she forces Jianhun into marrying her as an exchange for borrowing armed forces. Disguised as sister of Jianhun, Princess Shanhu steals Lixiang’s son and asks her to lie to Jianhun that their son has been dead. She also orders the general Cai Xiongfeng to kill Lixiang and her son. After knowing the truth, Xiongfeng saves Lixiang’s life instead of executing her. Xihua, the maid of Honour, cannot bear to hurt the child. She then abandons the baby on the bridge.

Thinking of gifting money to his sister, Zhicheng returns and comes across the abandoned baby on the bridge. On the wedding ceremony, Xiongfeng leads Lixiang to meet her lover and asks for her son at the imperial hall. Though Princess Shanhu tries to hide the truth, Xihua presents as a witness and reveals everything. Afterwards, Jianhun learns that his son was saved by Zhucheng. The family finally reunite happily.