In the tenth year of the Republic, as war rages across the land, Lu Zhanting, a twenty-four-year-old iron-fisted young marshal of the northern Fengtian clique, is ordered to garrison Jinmen and suppress the bandits. Su Wanqing, born Su Yiwan, is a nineteen-year-old daughter of a scholarly southern family, a talented traditional Chinese painter who is sweet-natured yet resilient. She moves to Jinmen with her father to escape the war, and an unexpected encounter at an art exhibition brings her into Lu Zhanting's sights.
