Summer, 1983. The entire nation is glued to their television sets as KBS airs a special live broadcast dedicated to reuniting family members who were separated during the Korean War. Hwa-young (Kim Jee-mi), who has been keeping a prosperous and harmonious household, decides to search for her lost son, at the recommendation of her husband (Jeon Mu-song). On the way to the TV station, Hwa-young begins to reminisce about the past. At the end of Japan's occupation of Korea, Hwa-young's family moves to a small village called Kilsodeum, in Hwanghae-do. Hwa-young (Lee Sang-a) soon becomes an orphan, and is taken in by her father's friend, Kim Byung-do. She falls in love with his son Dong-jin (Kim Jung-suk), who treats her with warmth and affection. One rainy day, Hwa-young and Dong-jin consummate their love and Hwa-young gives birth to a child. But the Korean War breaks out and their respective fates take them away from each other. While looking for her son in the rendezvous plaza outside the TV station, Hwa-young reunites with Dong-jin (Shin Seong-il), who has been waiting for her all his life at the expense of the family he built with the daughter (Oh Mi-yeon) of the man who saved his life. The two of them run into Seok-chul (Han Ji-il), a man who has been searching for his parents, and sense that he is their lost son. They go to visit him, but his rude behavior the product of a life spent in the gutters of society causes them to feel a sense of estrangement. Seok-chul's scar and a DNA test virtually confirm that he is their son, but Hwa-young turns her back on him, saying that she will not believe anything less than proofpositive of his parentage. Dong-jin turns away also, as he tosses Hwa-young's contact information in the garbage. As she drives along the road, Hwa-young stops her car for a moment and weeps, but soon continues on her way.