Duanwu, a pearl-diving slave from Hepu, overcomes every hardship to escape a pearl farm that devours its workers. She encounters Yan Zijing, a merchant from the Western Regions, and Zhang Jinran, a gentleman of impeccable manners. Joining the Yan family caravan, she struggles her way forward, and the dazzling world of jewels seems almost within reach. But on a journey to the northwest, she uncovers the secret of her birth and is drawn into Yan Zijing's tangled revenge plot. Her loved ones die, and the one she loves turns away from her.
