O Seon-yeong (played by Kim Jeong-rim), the wife of college professor Jang Tae-yeon (played by Park Am), wants to work at a boutique dress shop in order to earn more income. Her husband is displeased with her but reluctantly gives her permission. On her way back from the interview, where she agreed to start working the next day, she accidentally comes across Sin Chun-ho (played by Lee Min), a young man boarding next door. Seon-yeong develops an interest in Chun-ho and in dancing. Meanwhile, a typist, Park Eun-mi (played by Yang Mi-hui), asks Professor Jang to give Korean grammar lessons to the clerks in her company, a request to which he gladly agrees. Seon-yeong turns out to be a great saleswoman and makes a regular client of Baek Gwang-jin (played by Ju Seon-tae), a businessman who is in international trading. Although Baek is supposed to be in the business of receiving cash and distributing goods, no one has ever received good from him. Yun-ju (played by No Gyeong-hui), a former classmate and friend of Seon-yeong, is deceived by Baek and gives him a large amount of cash.

Min-ki is a banker who gets laid off after six years of service. Although he's under constant sense of uneasiness, he lives his new leisurely life without the stress of work, thanks to the successful career of his wife Bo-ra. Taking care of their baby daughter, doing the housework, and spending quiet time reading at the park, these are all blessings for Min-ki. Meanwhile, Bo-ra is having an adulterous affair with her college sweetheart Il-bum, with whom she was separated when he left for the military. Although she treasures her family and desires to keep it together, she is moved by Il-bum's love and by the sweet reminiscence of her youth. Soon, Min-ki discovers their intimate relationship, which brings about much pain and confusion among the three. All three dream of the possibilities for a happy end, bringing about an unexpected outcome.

In the summer of 1983, Hwa-yŏng goes to a campaign for the reunion of dispersed family members. Through the campaign, she meets old friend Dong-chin and finds Dong-chin's son. Hwa-yŏng feels weird bonding with Dong-chin's son.

Kang Yu-jin, a wealthy biology professor doing a butterfly field study, takes in a new housemaid; the young woman, Mi-ok, is the daughter of a shaman priestess who recently died in a house fire. At first, Yu-jin and his wife, Seon-hee, welcome Mi-ok into their home, but Seon-hee begins to have misgivings when she sees a strange wooden doll that the maid has brought with her. Having suffered from nightmares about exactly the same doll, Seon-hee becomes increasingly suspicious that Mi-ok is trying to kill her and usurp her household. In a fit of madness, Seon-hee causes Mi-ok to fall to her death. From then on, Seon-hee is tormented by visions of the doll attacking her.

Paralyzed from the waist down due to injuries from fighting in the Korean War, Choe Dong-u (played by Kim Jin-gyu) is sexually disabled. He becomes a novelist and uses his own marital relationship as the motif in a novel that is serialized in a newspaper. He starts each morning listening to the footsteps of his wife Lee Ji-yeon (played by Mun Jeong-suk) as she comes up the stairs carrying a bowl of medicine. He is tortured by the feeling of shame that for 14 years of marriage he has not been able to fulfill his duties as a husband. In front of him, Ji-yeon insists that being with him is her choice, but her impassiveness puts him in deeper despair. Ji-yeon is bound to a life that leaves her unable to satisfy her desires; the only time she is able to escape her circumstances is when she goes to Seoul for her husband, whose mobility is restricted, to deliver his manuscript to the newspaper agency. This is the only time she gets to leave home and explore the city. Then one day, a new employee at the newspaper agency, Gang, becomes interested in her and approaches her. On one of her trips to Seoul, she misses her train back home and ends up having a date with Gang. Ji-yeon's husband finds out about this through his sister (played by Jeon Gye-hyeon), but unable to gather the courage to separate from his wife, he starts to express himself indirectly by altering the behavior of the female protagonist in his novel little by little. As the relationship between Dong-u and Ji-yeon becomes more strained, Gang proposed to Ji-yeon that she leave her husband and start a new life with him.

Ae-sun (played by Mun Ye-bong), the vain wife of a middle -class man, has no interest in looking after her family. Her exasperated husband (played by Lee Geum-ryong) kicks her out, so she abandons her husband and her daughter Jeong-hui (played by Yu Seon-ok) to stay in a hotel with her lover Chang-geon. One day, Ae-sun finds out her lover is a criminal, not the prosperous entrepreneur she thought he was. Chang-geon robs in the hotel, and Ae-sun informs the police of her suspicions against him. As Ae-sun is following a new lover to the train station, her can hits her daughter Jeong-hui. Lying down on the bed beside Jeong-hui at the hospital, Ae-sun decides to commit suicide.

A young woman called Han (played by Choe Eun-hui) marries into a family that prides itself on the vermillion pillar of chastity which was bestowed by the government, but soon after getting married, her young husband dies from an illness, and she becomes a widow. She lives with her husband's younger brother, her father-in-law, and her father-in-law's mother (played by Han Eun-jin) who has lived all her life as a widow faithful to the memory of her husband. One day a young man, Seong-chil (played by Shin Yeong-gyun), accepts her father-in-law's request and joins their household. That year they have a drought, but because of Seong-chil's perseverance and ingenuity, they are able to provide water for their rice paddies. On the day when the long-awaited rain finally comes down, Han and Seong-chil become so ecstatic that they hug each other, finally revealing the feelings that they have for each other. That night they make love and overcome the obstacle of their different social statuses. However, believing the repuation of her family and propriety to be important, Han still tries to live her life supporting the family. When she realizes, however, she is pregnant, she decides to run away with Seong-chil. Her brother-in-law, who is secretly in love with Han, finds out of their plan and tells his grandmother. Han gives birth to the baby, but for the sake of the family, Seong-chil and the baby are forced to leave the family and the town.

After being discharged from the army, Chang-su (played by Song Jae-ho), a body scrubber at a public bath, happens to meet Yeong-ja (played by Yoem Bok-sun) at the police station. Three years before, when he was ironworker, he had fallen in love with Yeong-ja, a housemaid for a rich family. After being raped her employer's son during Chang-su's military service, she started to work in a sewing factory, but she quit the job because of poor pay. Then she worked as a barmaid and bus conductor. Yeong-ja los one arm in an accident and then she became a prostitute. Chang-su devoted himself to taking care of her, but Yeong-ja left him for his future. After several years, Chang-su sees Yeong-ja living in a happily married life and wishes her a happy marriage.