Su Manqing, a celebrated Shanghai opera singer, was forced to marry into the powerful military and political Lu family three years ago to escape prison over her family's opium-smuggling case. She became the wife of Lu Zhengyan, the young marshal. On their wedding night, Lu Zhengyan received an anonymous letter accusing Su Manqing of being a spy planted by his rival to steal military and political secrets. In a fury, he decided she had married him for wealth and betrayed him. He ignored her explanations and divorced her with a letter of repudiation, casting her out. Without the family's protection, the Su family quickly fell into ruin.
Three years later, Su Manqing returns to Shanghai as “Nightingale,” an underground operative ordered to infiltrate the pacification office and get close to its commissioner, Lu Zhengyan, to obtain a map of the Japanese army's defenses. They meet again: he is a commissioner wielding great power, while she is a socialite who moves among competing factions. Their old love and hatred intertwine with their present missions. She must watch out for his probing questions while evading the Japanese military police's Special Higher Police. And with each new clash, the truth behind her supposed “treason” begins to emerge.
