Hae-young is a hopeless girl. She lives with her father who runs a Chinese restaurant, and a younger sibling. One day, her father has a mysterious accident, which places her in a position of responsibility. She is now not only the head of the house and must look after her younger sibling, but also an investigator tasked with finding the truth about the accident, and a fighter standing against the ugly world.
In 2001, Kyunghwan transferred from Yeongcheon, Gyeongsangbuk-do, to Suseong-gu, Daegu. He is a fan of Japanese culture. He discovers that Jaemin, the class president sitting next to him, also listens to Japanese music, and the two become friends. Jaemin helps Kyunghwan adapt to Suseong-gu, and Kyunghwan follows Jaemin around because Jaemin is always honest with him. However, Kyunghwan learns Jaemin’s secret and decides to share his own with Jaemin. However, after Kyunghwan reveals his secret, Jaemin becomes distant and cold, and the other classmates begin to bully Kyunghwan. Nevertheless, Kyunghwan still wants to be friends with Jaemin.
Feeling stuck, young fisherman Yong-su sees no hope in his future - like a fish in a net. As a last resort, he plans an insurance scam by staging his disappearance, hoping to provide a better life for his Vietnamese wife and his ageing mother. At the centre of this scheme is his captain, Yeong-guk, who reluctantly reports Yong-su missing. However, when Yong-su’s mother refuses to connect her son’s disappearance with his death, the white lie snowballs into something harder to chew.
Hee-yeon, a dedicated high-school teacher, seems to be going well with her life. But soon she faces personal challenges with infertility and home construction issues. To make matters worse, her student, Yu-mi, becomes pregnant. Under her colleague’s pressure, she reluctantly advises her to quit school thinking it’s best. However, her own unexpected pregnancy overturns the whole situation. Hee-yeon starts to open up to Yu-mi and go through something she had never felt before.
One day, a prison guard, Tae-jeo finds out one of the prisoners, Mi-young, has a teenage daughter, Jun-young. Tae-jeo meets Jun-young for the first time at the funeral of Mi-young’s mother. Watching Jun-young sitting alone at the funeral in her school uniform, Tae-jeo sees herself in her. Although Tae-jeo initially does not engage in inmates’ lives, she becomes emotionally attached to Jun-young, helping her reunite with Mi-young beyond the bars.
