Amid the misty rains of the Republic of China era, Shen Zhiyu is trapped in her family's imposing mansion, while Gu Qingyuan returns from London.
One is a traditional young lady, skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, yet promised by her father to a warlord as a bargaining chip. Unspoken sorrow lingers in her eyes. The other is a young woman who studied abroad, dressed in Western clothes and filled with new ideas, bold enough to defy convention, with an untamable spirit at her core.
A chance meeting by a rock garden, a postcard of London's Tower Bridge, and a forbidden book, New Youth, kindle a spark long dormant in the inner chambers.
When Gu Qingyuan smiles and says, “I'll take you away,” Shen Zhiyu clutches her hem, and with it, the only light in her life.
They must break free of the shackles of feudal ethics, the calculations of family interests, and the fate of a turbulent age.
Fog shrouds the green parasol trees, rain beats against the banana leaves. The two souls save each other and walk side by side toward the bustling foreign concessions of Shanghai, becoming each other's moonlight and wind.
