The story takes the sixteen states of Yanyun as the stage and spans two hundred years of history from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms to the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. It shows the Chinese nation's persistent pursuit of "great unification" through the fate of many groups of characters, including the generals of the Yang family, the righteous soldiers of the Beifeng Hall, the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty, and the Khitan nobles.
