In the chaos of the Republican era, smoke and gunfire fill the air. Seven-year-old Qiu Haotan is on the brink of death from cold and hunger when Shen Moxian, head of the Rongxi opera troupe, takes him in. So begins his life in the seemingly glamorous but ruthlessly strict world of Peking opera. Enduring grueling training and beatings day after day, he struggles up from a heap of “actors” treated like corpses, relying on extraordinary talent and patience, and eventually becomes Lian Guan, a celebrated performer who captivates Beiping.
Yet the dazzling lights of the stage are only a veneer of splendor in a world at war. When Japanese forces trample the land, he seems intoxicated by applause and adoration, but behind his painted mask he hides his true feelings, treading carefully among the powerful.
An unexpected pursuit and a fleeing figure bind their fates together for good. Pei Zhuxuan, a young woman from a prominent family and an underground operative codenamed “Red Eagle,” is forced to infiltrate his troupe to complete her mission. One fleeting glance, and a love is born amid the chaos. Onstage and off, makeup and gun smoke mingle; love for their country and family collides with tenderness and duty. He turns the troupe into the most dangerous intelligence hub, dancing on the edge of enemy blades, while she weaves a spy network that could determine the fate of their country.
But a world in turmoil leaves no room for romance. They meet briefly, again and again, and suffer one wrenching separation after another. To protect her, Qiu Haotan willingly lets himself be imprisoned, his face disfigured and his voice silenced, enduring countless slurs as he falls from the heights to the dirt below. When the smoke of war finally clears and the country rises again, only an old man remains beneath the setting sun in a deserted courtyard. Dragging his broken body, he sings in fractured, halting syllables of a past no one knows.
A dreamlike opera, a lifetime of love and torment. When the curtain falls, who will remember the one who burned through an entire life for one person and one promise?
