In 1937, the Japanese imperialists launched a brutal war of aggression against China. Xu Tian was a color-blind accountant in Shanghai with military training who decided to stay close to his mother after the death of his father. After an accident involving a group of patriots led by a friend of his late father, he was touched by the patriotic spirit. He used his sharp mind to help the patriots transporting important materials, which also drew the attention of Japanese occupying the city to himself. During this period, he befriended Jin, a conman-turned-businessman and Tielin, a police officer working in the Shanghai French Concession. At the same time, pharmacist Tian Dan rented a room in Xu's house after losing her parents in an incident Xu was deeply involved. On the backdrop of the national crisis, people were living their intertwined lives with their own agenda, be it for revenge, for duty, for self-interest, or for ideology.