In the waning years of the Ming dynasty, a traveling opera troupe called the Floating Life Troupe struggles to survive amid the chaos. Led by troupe leader Liu Hanyan and accompanied by five apprentices, each with a distinct personality, they travel across the war-torn Central Plains, performing other people's stories while living through joys and sorrows of their own. From the final years of the Chongzhen era through the Qing conquest and into the early Kangxi era, this little troupe witnesses the fall of dynasties and the suffering of the people, as well as the light and darkness of human nature under extreme circumstances. Told through an ensemble cast, the story follows six main characters as they support and quarrel with one another, part ways and reunite, ultimately finding their own reasons to survive amid the tides of history.
