70-year-old man Seong Taek convinces the neighborhood for redevelopment into a fancy new apartment complex so that he has something to leave for his daughter and granddaughter. But the day before he is to move so that they start construction, something unbelievable happens to his granddaughter.

Sam Bo is a good-for-nothing gambler who loses more often than winning. His wife Hyun Jip takes care of the household and brings home the money. Her outstanding beauty and charm bring her a bevy of neighborhood admirers who are willing to provide her with anything she desires. The neighborhood women go up in arms when they realize their husbands are contributing to Hyun Jip's funds in exchange for her services. They try to run her out of the village but in vain. Sam Dol, the local farmhand, is known for his sexual prowess and his latest target is Hyun Jip. But when she continues to turn him down, he takes revenge on her by telling her husband what she has done.

The 1930s. Wishing to pass down his knowledge, the father teaches his children to sing Pansori. The elder daughter and the younger son become professional singers but time has changed and people are no longer interested in folk singing. The younger boy gives up on his studies and runs away from home. Fearful that the daughter might do the same, the father blinds her. The blind girl continues to practice with great diligence and achieves perfection in this art. Years pass, the brother is roaming the world in search of his sister and eventually finds her. All night long they sing together sharing their memories.

A monk rapes a beautiful young woman who visits his monastery. He quits the monastery, marries the woman, and they have kids. But she despises him all the while and devotes herself to tormenting him.

Sun Woo Sumi is a lecturer at a French-language school after studying in France, but she has not forgotten the nightmare from seven years ago. She was assaulted by five men during her first year of college with Jin Woo. At that time, Sumi decided to study abroad. Jin Woo, a police officer, tries to recover her mental and physical injuries.

During the 1970s, in Kunchon, there were women divers who were able to dive without equipment, including two best friends Choon-ja and Jin-sook, Jin-sook's brother and Hammer. They always collected seafood under water for living. But, as fewer factories started to be built near the beach, the women divers started to have trouble with what they were doing for living. Without any choice, the ship crews decided to join the smuggling business in the water to seek a way for their living. But the smuggling business in their village got too big for Jin-sook's family to handle and the peaceful village was gradually broken.

Jae-mo leaves the world behind and takes refuge in a remote fishing village. Out of nowhere, Soo-bin comes into his life. Their relationship is purely physical at first but their love intensifies as they begin to deeply understand each other's pain. Soo-bin unwittingly discovers sheets of music that Jae-mo had written and realizes that he was once a composer. She decides to help him fulfill his dream by returning to Seoul. Her only consolation in returning to the city she hates most is the fact that they will be together.

A comic book store in Garibong-dong is run by a beautiful woman better known as Madam. This store stays open late into the night, thus attracting varied types of people such as gangsters and hustlers.

Kang-man is an old man living in an isolation due to his cranky personality. Alcohol and a shabby bicycle are the only two things that give him solace in his lonely life. One day, a young boy named Poong-do appears out of the blue with the news that his son died of a car accident and claims that he’s Kang-man’s grandson. Though Kang-man refuses to accept Pooong-do as his grandson, Poong-do, who seems to be as stubborn and bullheaded as Kang-man, won’t live.

The collapse of a department store disturbs a local community, causing strife for some, and bringing some people closer than ever before.