Seeking Truth: A Doctor’s Compassion Beneath the Sky Screen

In the emergency room at Dongli Hospital, a controversy erupts after patient Wang Xi refuses to be admitted, leaves against medical advice, and suddenly dies. The incident tightly binds the fates of Zhou Xiaofeng, a cardiologist; Lin Yi, a newly transferred cardiac surgeon; and Su Yan, director of the cardiac center’s critical care department. When Wang Xi’s family raises questions and causes a scene, the three go from clashing over their ideas and misunderstanding one another to working together to reconstruct what happened. They review the medical records and obtain surveillance footage, gradually resolving their differences beneath the sky screen that suddenly appears over the hospital.

Suspended above them like a mirror spanning time and space, the sky screen shows the modern hospital’s procedures, the doctors’ dedication, and their regrets to figures from every age, including Zhang Zhongjing of the Eastern Han, Sun Simiao of the Tang, and Qin Shi Huang of the Qin. They marvel at the precision of modern medical equipment such as electrocardiographs and monitors, and sympathize with doctors’ helplessness when patients stubbornly refuse advice. They also watch Zhou Xiaofeng, Lin Yi, and Su Yan learn from a lapse in care for high-risk emergency patients, devise improvements together, establish a fast-track pathway for heart attacks, and work in concert to save critically ill patients, including those suffering acute myocardial infarctions and Duoduo, a three-month-old baby with congenital heart disease.

From reflecting on and improving care after the Wang Xi incident, to interacting with patients at community health talks, to keeping vigil through the night in the intensive care unit, the three gradually develop the kind of understanding found in an iron triangle. Their expertise and compassion help them overcome crisis after crisis. Meanwhile, the onlookers from every era beneath the sky screen come to understand, through this medical dialogue across time, that no matter how the ages change, doctors’ reverence for life and commitment to their responsibilities will always be a light that shines upon the world.