Wind and Rain in Xiemazhen

Love, friendship, and family; infighting within a family and schemes between families; grudges and rivalries in the martial world, wits at the business table, and deceit in officialdom; great evil that destroys all conscience, and great goodness that lets go of grudges and enmity.

The story takes place during the Yongle era of the Ming dynasty.

Tan Guokai invites the Cheng Family Opera Troupe to perform for three days to celebrate his wife's birthday. Lord Tan never dreamed that Cheng Xiangdong, the troupe's young leader, was the son he and his wife lost nineteen years ago.

Nineteen years earlier, the Prince of Yan's army surrounded the Marquis's estate. To preserve the Tan family's only heir, the Marquis of Qilin and Princess Changping had their maid Cuiyun take two-year-old Chen to her hometown of Anqing to seek refuge. This sets off a series of tales filled with partings and reunions, joys and sorrows, and dramatic twists. When Chen returns to his ancestral family, the Tan household is beset by crises. Three conflicts erupt at once: within the family, between families, and between Tan Guokai and his political nemesis. One deadly struggle after another ensues. In the end, the Tan family's Huairen Hall and Yipin Studio defeat Yixiao Hall and Yipin Pavilion. Having suffered defeat, Minister Zhai, his son Zhai Wenliang, County Magistrate Mao, and Prefect Zhang join forces with their allies at court and devise a vicious plot. An imperial edict orders Tan Guokai escorted to the capital. Chen, Princess Changping, and Imperial Censor Ouyang, who is observing mourning at home and is Tan Guokai's close friend, each set out for the capital with their own retinue. A life-and-death struggle between good and evil begins.