In Chongqing in 1935, Su Wanqing and her little brother end up homeless on Shibati. With only her late father’s Illustrated Guide to the Plants of Baxian County and a box of wintersweet rouge, she struggles to survive in a world torn apart by war.
All she wants is a safe place to settle, but then she meets Lu Jingheng, who controls shipping on the Chuanjiang River.
He believes he must devote his life to the country, but with the fragrance of a single sprig of greenery, she tells him: Across this vast land, wherever you are is home.
From their first meeting at Chaotianmen to their wedding in an air-raid shelter, they use their rouge shop as a cover, hiding medicine among the ingredients for perfumed balm.
He directs the fight from the front lines, while she risks her life to protect those at the rear.
When the scent of wintersweet meets the fragrance of pine and cypress, and a beauty in troubled times meets a battle-hardened hero, theirs is more than a love story of redemption. It is a passionate legend of domestic goods and the soul of a nation.
