Dayuer (Ning Jing), who comes from Horqin Banner, Mongolia, has been known as the "most beautiful woman in Manchuria and Mongolia" since she was a child. She and Dorgon (Ma Jingtao), the younger brother of Huang Taiji (Liu Dekai), Prince Rui, have been childhood sweethearts and promised to be together for life. However, she was taken as a concubine by Huang Taiji and was named Consort Zhuang of Yongfu Palace. She became an uncle and sister-in-law to Dorgon, but she still had feelings for him. Huang Taiji suddenly passed away, and the struggle for the throne was surging. Dorgon, who held the military power, became the biggest rival of Huang Taiji's eldest son Haoge, but unexpectedly supported Dayuer's son Fulin (Yan Kun) to ascend the throne. Dayuer became the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang. For the sake of her son's throne and the foundation of the Qing Dynasty, Xiaozhuang always maintained an ambiguous relationship with Dorgon, and for the sake of the empress dowager's reputation, the two's years of passionate feelings were only left with the regret of starting from love and ending with etiquette. Dorgon died young, and Xiaozhuang could only bury her pain in her heart and do everything she could to assist Emperor Shunzhi in his rule. However, Shunzhi's beloved concubine Dong E (played by Shu Chang) died of illness, and he began to think about retiring. Xiaozhuang had no choice but to make Shunzhi's son Xuanye the emperor, with the reign title Kangxi, thus ushering in a new era of prosperity for the Qing Dynasty.