Hua Nong is a woman of remarkable literary talent. One day, while gathering herbs in the mountains, she finds an abandoned baby and takes the child home. Soon, rumors spread throughout town, and she has no choice but to leave with the child. She makes a living gathering herbs and doing embroidery, travels to Dayue to save her mother, and later settles down to a happy life in Nan'an. When she meets Chen Mohan again, his deliberate and offhand remarks stir ripples in her heart, long still for years. Though the two never become husband and wife, they share in writing the bittersweet, many-flavored legend of her life.
