A Lonely City Dream is a tragic historical romance filled with power plays. It follows Xiao Hanche and Shen Qingyao. Xiao Hanche is an overlooked prince of the Xiao imperial family. Though his remarkable military exploits earn him repeated honors, he remains on the fringes of power. Shen Qingyao is a princess of a fallen kingdom, buffeted by misfortune, her homeland destroyed and herself stranded in a foreign land. By chance, Shen Qingyao rescues the gravely wounded Xiao Hanche, and the two are bound together from then on.
As their feelings deepen, Xiao Hanche fights his way up through the whirlpool of palace power struggles, eventually winning the battle for the throne and becoming emperor. Shen Qingyao becomes the empress at his side. But the intrigues and power struggles of the palace wear her down in body and spirit. She suffers terribly in the inner palace, exhausted and brokenhearted. After losing the child she carries, she dies by suicide with a shattered heart.
This is a love story etched into the heart, a tragedy doomed never to reach a happy ending. It tells of love and pain, political schemes, and the fickleness of fate.
