Chengdu, 1940. The city seems peaceful, but various factions are stirring trouble in secret. Wang Biao, a ruthless enforcer of the Paoge Society, is quietly killed, making an already turbulent Chengdu even more chaotic. Everyone in the Sichuan Gang becomes a suspect.
Meanwhile, the theater on Chunxi Road is bustling. Li Yan is its biggest star. She places third in the “Sichuan Opera's Famous Performers” competition and is known as “Third Sister Li.” Carrying the secret of her birth, she moves among Chengdu's wealthy, searching for the person who destroyed her family ten years ago. Then Zhang Qiming, head of the East Sichuan Chamber of Commerce, appears, changing her fate once more.
After enduring one hardship after another, the two finally get together. Li Yan, whose heart belongs only to Zhang Qiming, has no choice but to turn down Zhao Zhiyuan, the young master of the Zhao family, who is pursuing her. The tangled feelings among the three grow increasingly complicated. At the same time, Zhang Qiming's ties to the Sichuan Gang gradually come to light. Various factions begin exploiting their relationship to undermine them, led by the Paoge Society. In their rush to get rid of Zhang Qiming, they even dig up the story of Li Yan's late parents and the Zhang family's past, hoping to use others to do their killing.
Chengdu looks calm on the surface, but beneath it, currents run deep. The two still remember how they first met, yet step by step they are driven toward a dead end. Perhaps that era itself trapped them in the brief lives they shared.
