The story takes place in a beautiful pavilion in 1930's Suzhou. Jade is a famous songstress courtesan marrying into the noble house. She develops a dubious relationship with a female cousin of the family and also being admired secretly by her butler. LAN the cousin is a modern woman who wants to be independent and serves her country but when she meets the charismatic Shing an official from the North all her plans go astray. These two women's love bears no fruit with their men and in the end they have only each other to lean on.