This is a tale of two generations of a family that lived during the Japanese colonization era. We see the loves and tragedies of a girl with a modern education, her three sisters with problems of their own, a self-sacrificing mother and a bankrupt shipowner father. The film′s report-like composition reveals a dislocation in Korean history with various sites of confrontation: the national consciousness vs. the Japanese presence, western-style modern ideology vs. native beliefs, etc. Within these lie the severe conflict of a nation under the rule of Japan, as well as a lifestyle influenced by western civilization. This film features two axis, one of the misfortunes of mother and three of her daughters; a widowed first one, the indiscreet third one and the fourth one with a life of hardship; and the other with the second, more rational daughter, the film′s central character. Their authoritative father goes bankrupt and the other family members suffer misfortunes, except for the second daughter Yong-Bin, who gets embossed with a certain hopefulness after overcoming all tragedies. (Yi Hyoin)