Counselor Zhang Tian-jiao with his daughter Tsui-luan travels "on vacation" to Jiangzhou. Crossing Huaihe, he did not heed the advice and did not make sacrifices to the spirit of the river. The ferry rolled over, the storm swept the travelers. The Tsui Luan, who was saved by the coast guard, was adopted by the fisherman Tsui Wen-yuan.
Father and daughter in separation yearn for each other. One day his nephew Tsui Dian-shi comes to the fisherman to enter the capital. Having discovered great abilities in him, the uncle introduces the young man to his adopted daughter. Seeing that young people sympathize with each other, he immediately woo them. Tsui Dian-shi swears allegiance to his newfound wife.
Examiner Zhao Qian is very pleased with Tsui's essay. After summoning him, Zhao (portrayed in the play as a fool) proposes his daughter as his wife. Tsui decides that this party will be more enviable than marriage with a rootless - as he thinks - Tsui-luan. Zhao sends the young to Qinchuan, where Tsui will be the ruler of the county. Three years later, Tsui-luan, learning about the whereabouts of her missing husband, comes to Qinchuan. Tsui Dian-shi not only refuses to recognize her as his wife, but declares her a runaway slave and orders, stigmatized, to send to the island of Shamyn in the hope that she will die on the way.
After ascertaining the honesty of Zhang Tian-jiao, the emperor appoints him inspector of the Jiangzhou area. But Zhang is full of sorrow - her daughter was never found. On one of his trips, autumn rain catches him. He decides to stay at the Linjiang Post Station. There, under the escort, they lead Tsui-luan chained to Kanga. Exhausted and wet, driven by a stick, she barely wanders, moaning and complaining. The escort pities her, but cannot help.
Sitting in front of the station’s entrance, Tsui-luan repeatedly wakes his father with his wailing during the night, who is unhappy with this - after all, only in a dream does he sometimes see his daughter. At dawn, he finally finds out who kept him awake. The daughter tells her father about her fate. With his permission, she herself goes for an unfaithful husband and a homemaker. Zhang Tian-jiao wants to execute them. However, a fisherman arriving in time asks for leniency for his nephew. The matter is limited to the oath of Tsui Dian-shi to be an exemplary husband from now on, the second wife becomes their servant. “A woman’s heart is soft,” Tsui Luan admits.
