Wang Wen Xuan is an idealistic and good-natured man living during a tumultuous period in China. He's in love with his classmate Zeng Shu Sheng, but his traditional mother wants him to marry a girl of her choosing. In the midst of war and the inevitable tension of the times, Wen Xuan is frequently torn between Shu Sheng and his mother. To make things worse, his health slowly begins to deteriorate after contracting tuberculosis. Adapted from the 1947 novel "Cold Nights" (寒夜, Han Ye) by Chinese writer Ba Jin 巴金