Se Ra is an ambitious woman who discarded her long time boyfriend, Hyun Min, in order to join high society. Though she seems weak, she actually has a great determination to fulfill her dreams. Se Ra betrays Hyun Min in order for her to become successful. This in turn causes Hyun Min to hate Tae Sung. The drama also portrays the #1 export industry.

Kim Kyung Sook (Park Sol-mi), Kyung Ku (Kim Ji-hoon) and Kyung Min (Ji Hyun-woo)'s father who was a widowed farmer married Keum Shil's mother when Keum Shil was six. The marriage was not a happy one and Keum Shil's mother continued her affair with Park Byung Sam (Lee Duk-hwa) a rich landlord in the village who was running for a seat in the Parliament. Her body was discovered in the river after the election and Kyung Sook's father was wrongly accused of being the killer. He was tortured by the police into admission and later died in custody before trial. Park Byung Sam, who was in actual fact Keum Shil's real father ordered his brother-in-law to adopt Keum Shil and gave him a job at the Intelligence Office in Seoul. Kyung Sook had also moved to Seoul and worked hard to bring up her brothers. She vowed that she would clear her father's name and find the real killer. Park Byung Sam remained her no. 1 suspect even though she was in love with his son, Park Jong Kyu (Jung Chan). It turned out that he wasn't the one but who was and why??

As a kid, all Kim In Ha ever did was follow his uncle around and help him cheat in gambling. As a high school student, he hung out with his friends at the basement of a theater. As Kim In Ha gets to know Choi Jeong Won, a model student and also the son of a very rich family, In Ha tries to tempt him into doing mischevious deeds.

Winter Sonata begins when Joon-sang (Bae Yong Jun) moves to a new high school in search for his biological father. Yu-jin (Choi Ji Woo) and Sang-hyuk (Park Yong Ha) have been close childhood friends; though Sang-hyuk wants to be more than a friend, Yu-jin sees him merely as a brother. On a trip together with some other high school mates, Oh Chelin (Park Sol Mi), Jin-suk (Lee Hye Eun) and Yong-kuk (Ryu Seung Soo), Yu-jin is saved after an accident by Joon-sang and after that they get to be really close and she opens up his cold heart. However, circumstances and fate dictate that their love will never be. He abruptly disappears from their lives.

Ten years later the old High School buddies get together to celebrate Yu-jin and Sang-hyuk's soon to be wedding. Yu-jin who was deeply in love with Joon-sang, still has this fire in her heart for him, even though he's been out of her life for a decade. But at this party Oh Chelin's new boyfriend arrives, and he looks just the same as Joon-sang. Could it be him or is Yu-jin only dreaming?