In the 1940s, when the civil war was about to end, Taiwanese doctor Yan Zekun (Takeshi Kaneshiro) frequently traveled back and forth on the cruise ship "Taiping" from Taiwan to the mainland to buy medicine. In order to maintain his family's livelihood, he was calm on the surface, but he never stopped missing his lover Masako (Masami Nagasawa) who was forced to separate due to the war. His younger brother Yan Zeming (Yang Youning) wanted to go to the mainland to make revolution, and the poor family was in turmoil. Yan Zekun met the wife (Song Hye Kyo) of General Lei Yifang (Huang Xiaoming) who had a chance encounter with him. General Lei's communications soldier Tong Daqing (Tong Dawei) was obsessed with Yu Zhen (Zhang Ziyi), a low-level woman. There were also non-commissioned officers (Wang Qianyuan) and his wife (Yu Feihong). Everyone met on the last "Taiping" to Taiwan, writing the joys and sorrows of the war years. The gears of fate were turned on. Where should the little people in the big era go?