At a 1930s swimming match, a Chinese champion is forced to lose to his American rival. Later, the Chinese champion's son, another potential champion, is torn between the rigours of training and the lure of romance.

No. 13 Baochan Hutong in Beiping was originally the residence of King Zheng of the Qing Dynasty, and became one of the top ten murderous mansions in Beiping due to the unexplained deaths of its occupants from time to time. A couple from Shanghai rented the house, and the old man on watch told them the story of the old house. When the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded, King Zheng's father was dragged to his death by a foreigner's horse for not letting the foreigner occupy the mansion, and since then there have been strange happenings in the mansion. Zheng Wang's son, Weng, was not doing his job, and Zheng Wang could do nothing about it. On the night of the ancestor's memorial service, King Zheng died of spasms in his arms and legs. After the Republic of China, Weng was forced to sell his house, his mother hanged herself, and his sister fell into a brothel, where a warlord general bought her as a concubine, but abused her all sorts of ways.

Occurring at the time of the Chinese Civil War, following the victory over Japan, Nationalist agents fail in trying to destroy the student movement in Beijing.

After the major campaigns, the Liberation War’s focus shifted to the northwest. Hu Zongnan retreated south, and Fang Zhiqiao led his remnants to Mount Hua, known for its rugged terrain. Fang deployed forces at key passes, but a military intelligence officer, with herbalist Chang Shenglin’s help, cut off enemy communication by reaching the North Peak. A political offensive led to the surrender of the enemy at Qianshi Zhuang, controlling all passages between the North and West Peaks. Trapped, Fang Zhiqiao’s troops, with shattered morale, launched a futile counterattack, leading to his despairing lament.

In a mountain hamlet in eastern China, a poor woman faces trial after trial. Sold into marriage as a child, she is left a young widow and enslaved by her mother-in-law, who sells her to a poor peasant. Her second marriage turns out to be happy until fate takes away her husband and son. Now seen as a bearer of bad luck, she becomes a social outcast.

Financial and political pressures bankrupt a Chinese store owner.