Hee Tae becomes the pride of Gwangju when he enters Seoul National University College of Medicine with top marks. His best friend Kyung Soo, an avid pro-democracy activist, insists that they open an illegal clinic for students on the run from the government. One day, a factory worker is injured during a protest. In exchange for the costs of discreetly transporting himself and the factory worker to his hometown, Hee Tae must go to a meeting with a potential marriage partner arranged by his father. At this meeting, Hee Tae meets Myung Hee, a nurse persevering through the hardships of life. She only agrees to go to this meeting in place of her friend Soo Ryeon, because she needs to come up with the airfare to go study in Germany. However, Myung Hee and Hee Tae end up falling in love. In May of 1980, amidst the heated passion and cries for democracy that reverberated throughout Gwangju, Hee Tae and Myung Hee find themselves in a twist of fate.