A Cantonese librettist enjoys immense popularity over the course of decades, followed by decline.

During the Chongzhen reign of the Ming Dynasty, eunuch Cao Huachun colludes with the Qing dynasty to seize the throne. Princess Changping and her sister Zhaoren seek the help of Zhou Shixian and Yuan Ruofei to eliminate Cao. Li Zicheng's rebels invade the capital and are rescued by the East Sea Fairy, who teaches them martial arts. The Qing then conquer the Central Plains, and Ping and Shixian pretend to submit to the Qing to save Ruofei. However, they have their own hidden agenda.

Restaurant owner Lu Ganyu has two sons and a daughter. His eldest son, Lu Wenjun, becomes a journalist and later opens his own newspaper. However, his newspaper is suppressed by rivals, making him realize the cunning nature of the business world and prompting him to change. Wenjun uses the wealthy Huang De to help him, but he later forces Huang to sell his shares. Wenqi, Wenjun's sister, marries Huang despite her family's objections, but they don't get along. Wenjun falls in love with Xiao Ailian and Zou Shujuan. Although he marries Shujuan, he can't forget about Ailian. In his bid for success, Wenjun ignores his family and even associates himself with Meng Yanhong, a famous matchmaker, leading to his eventual success but estrangement from his loved ones. Meanwhile, Huang and Wenjun's enemies conspire to take him down.