Detective Cho, a cop on the edge, is mourning his mother's recent death while under investigation for graft; on top of that he is suddenly put in charge of a seemingly-impenetrable mystery.

Jang-Soe is the stepbrother of Jang-Hwa and Hong-Ryeon. Jang-Soe's mother kills two sisters to take all properties from their father. Later Jang-Hwa and Hong-Ryeon become resented spirits. They appear to their father Mr. Bae and the chief of district to tell that their stepmother Mrs. Heo killed them. The honorable chief of district knows the truth and arrests Mrs. Heo and Jang-Soe to punish them. Jang-Hwa revives from death and marries to her beloved Mr. Jeong.

Failing to enter the university of his choice, a young man is forced to enter a local college, but a series of disappointments causes him to give up his studies and begin a life of aimless travel.

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.

Soldiers with the U.N. forces that entered Korea during the Korean War rape a village girl named Eon-rae. The villagers ostracize Eon-rae and her son. Unable to make a living, Eon-rae joins the brothel district that has been set up near the U.N. base on the other side of the river from the village. The war and the introduction of U.S. culture break down the social order of the village. After several village children have died, the villagers put the blame on the prostitutes. Eventually the villagers, unable to maintain the village, leave their homes one by one. Eon-rae and her son also leave

Hye-rim is a model prisoner serving out her sentence for murder. With two years left to go, she gets a special outing. Hye-rim gets on a train to Kang-reung to visit her mother's grave. At the place, she meets Min-gi, a young man running away after being involved in a crime organization. Min-gi's persistence melts the heart that was hardened in jail. Hye-rim and Min-gi fall in love.

A young boy mourns the death of his father, and begins a quest to find his mother. He encounters many people on the way who quote Buddhist precepts: an eccentric monk, a girl who grows up into a young woman, a prison inmate, a foul-mouthed doctor and the young son of a hard drinking astronomer. Each of them tell the boy to seek someone to help him find the truth and his mother.

Han-kook starts to work as an apprentice chef at a Chinese restauraunt belonging to his father's friend, but rather than follow the painstaking process of preparing the food by hand, Han-kook begins to use pre-processed ingredients.