Suk-hee's mother is remarried to a man who has a son a year senior than Suk-hee. The two don't get along well first, but soon they grow intimate. Suk-hee learns, though, that she needs to give up her love for her mother's happiness. One day she leaves her mother and her new family, and goes on her way to her hometown, where she sees a Zelkova tree.

A middle-aged man is so crazy about his mistress that he doesn't care about what happens to his family. The feud between his children by his wife and by the mistress gets worse until the family almost breaks apart.

A young sailor arrives in Busan Harbour; an outrageous-looking, woolly bear of a man appears in downtown Busan with a shotgun over one shoulder, a heavy knapsack thrown over the other; a tough-looking young woman joins her friend in robbing a naïve fat man in a suit. The strands of character and story will slowly converge, well after the audience, tuned to the coincidences and mistaken identities of melodrama, has recognised that these three have a shared history and are fated to meet and reconcile.

In 1946, Tae-woong, a man nicknamed "The Bear" who dominated the streets of Busan with his fists, have returned after twenty years. Tae-woong is still haunted by his former love, Yeonsuk, and is confused when he meets Jung-hee, who looks exactly like Yeonsuk. Meanwhile, Dal-ji, a former subordinate of Tae-woong's, schemes to get rid of him.

King Sukjong exalts a greedy concubine to the status of Bin, which is next to that of the Queen. The new Bin, who is now called Jang Hui-bin, drives out the Queen through a coup and takes her place. But thanks to loyal court officials, the King finds out what has been going on. He demotes Jang to Bin again and reinstates his Queen. Jang, now vindictive, conspires with her mother to kill the queen and reclaim her place. But the conspiracy is brought to light, and Jang is executed.

President Choi of Dongseo Shipping is at the verge of bankruptcy because one of his ships has sunk. Right on time, a man comes to Choi and offers to lend money by taking his remaining real estates as security and staying at his place. The man turns out to be a son that Choi has abandoned. The mother has died after living a hard life, and he wants revenge.

During the Chinese-Japanese War (1937-1945) a nightclub dancer is given a dangerous mission by her dying brother. According to her brother's will, she goes on a journey with encoded papers of the Independence Army operations. She soon becomes a most wanted criminal by the Japanese Army and must cross the continent on her own.