In the late Qing Dynasty, when the political situation was corrupt and people were living in poverty, Charlie Soong (Jiang Wen) relied on the advanced knowledge he gained in the United States to join forces with Sun Yat-sen (Zhao Wenxuan) to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. Later, Charlie Soong's three daughters, each with their own style, returned to China after studying in the United States. The eldest daughter, Soong Ai-ling (Michelle Yeoh), married the businessman Kong Xiang-xi (Niu Zhenhua), the second daughter, Soong Ching-ling (Maggie Cheung), followed the revolutionary Sun Yat-sen despite her father's opposition, and the third daughter, Soong May-ling (Vivian Wu), became the wife of Chiang Kai-shek (Wu Xingguo), who was first a revolutionary and then a traitor. The fate of the three began to rise and fall in the turbulent political situation along with the fate of the three most important men in China at that time.