As the wars of the Republic of China burned down the mountains and rivers, an inkstone in Liulichang, Peking, led to a love that went against fate. Yi An, the young master of Debaozhai, and Zhiling, a girl who knows how to make inkstones, met for the first time on a snowy day, and immediately violated the commandment "it is best not to meet each other" at a glance. Their affection is hidden in the warm stone eyes of the "Xingmu" inkstone, immersed in the fireworks of Peking minor tunes, but in the end it cannot withstand the swords and shadows of the troubled times - the iron hoof of invasion breaks the tranquility, Yi An pretends to marry a Japanese woman to protect Zhiling, and secretly plans to transfer the heirloom inkstone to protect the Chinese cultural heritage.
From Peking to Nanjing, from separation to reunion, despite the hatred of family and country, and the test of life and death, they broke the commandment of "not falling in love, not cherishing each other" time and time again, and carved their deep love into their bones and blood. The task of assassinating the enemy makes love burn with forbearance, the torture in the dungeon cannot erase the obsession to stay together, and the gunfire in the execution ground finally makes the wish of "free from having to teach life and death to miss each other" come true.
This is a fateful entanglement that goes against the Ten Commandments, and is the ultimate tension between the righteousness of family and country and the love between children. An ancient inkstone witnessed the sincerity and courage in the war; two lines of blood and tears wrote all the unforgettable memories in troubled times. When the maple leaves turn red again and the mountains and rivers remain intact, only the inkstone marks in front of the unnamed tombstone bear in mind the swan song of a person who would rather bear the Ten Commandments than live up to this life.
