The film tells the story of a young British couple who came to live in the Chinese countryside in the 1920s. In this beautiful but dangerous environment, they experienced emotional ups and downs that they could never imagine and experience in the comfortable life in their hometown in England, and realized the true meaning of love and devotion. The story begins with the heroine Kitty. In order to escape the flashy but empty social circle in London in the 1920s and to prevent herself from becoming an old maid, Kitty accepted the proposal of the taciturn doctor Walter Fane. After bringing Kitty to Shanghai, Fane quickly devoted himself to his bacteriological research. Lonely Kitty had an extramarital affair with the charming married man Charlie Townsend. When Fane found out, he was ashamed and resentful. In order to get revenge and to rebuild his life, Fane decided to take a gamble and take Kitty away to a remote town where cholera was raging. Walter went from a spotless laboratory to the front line of the plague epidemic, and he slowly helped control the local epidemic. Kitty begins to volunteer at a monastery and hospital run by French nuns, and gradually finds the courage and meaning of life. Walter and Kitty can finally open their hearts to each other, but just as they become closer, Walter is infected with cholera. Walter's life or death determines whether their newly bursting passion can be transformed into eternal love...