Yang Naifan's family has agreed to an arranged marriage. Yang Naifan is not happy with the arrangement and runs away to be with her true love, Li Zuyi. Disowned by her family, Yang Naifan must endure many hardships as she follows her heart.

The film traces the relationships that develop between the protagonist Xu and the three women he meets, set against the backdrop of the Second World War.

Part 1 ended with Jianbai and Su Yanan among the students fleeing the invading Japanese. Part 2 follows the efforts of all four characters to participate in the war effort. Su Yanan joins the army and fights. Jianbai enlists to be near her. A-Lan becomes a nurse at a battlefront hospital and Qiuming entertains the troops. (Grace Chang, Cathay's leading musical star at the time, performs some rousing patriotic numbers in these scenes.) Jianbai is reunited with Su in the battlefield, but...