Two boys are born in a village on the same night: Chundong to a woman who ran away from the man who raped her, Gwidong to a nobleman whose wife dies immediately after giving birth. The nobleman forcibly conscripts the woman to nurse Gwidong, leaving Chundong behind in the care of the man with whom she escaped. When she learns that the nobleman has forbidden her from leaving his household, her maternal instincts compel her to switch the children so she can raise Chundong instead

It's been 15 years since Map-Soon switched the two boys so she could keep an eye on the one to whom she gave birth. The two show obvious signs of their upbringing, yet they seem out of place: Gwi-Dong prefers to fight for the state rather than attend to his studies, while Chun-Doong's thievery belies his intelligence

Switched at birth, Chun-Doong and Gwi-dong are beginning to show even more signs of their respective biological traits. Chun-Doong's thirst for knowledge endears him to the local teacher, who takes him on as his protege. Gwi-Dong has tried to woo the teacher's daughter, who has befriended Chun-Doong despite his indigent upbringing. Meanwhile, unrest is abound and Map-Soon has fallen out of favor with Lord Kim's wife because of Gwi-Dong's misadventures in the countryside

The past rears its head when Chun-Doong demands Map-Soon and Soe-Dol to reveal the identity of his birth parents, but Gwi-Dong has his own ghosts to chase. Alas, the village has more serious issues to confront, for the people threaten to rebel against the authorities because of the military draft and the high tax rate

The beggars cast Chun-Doong out of their guild and threaten to harm him when he stops the boss' son from stealing a pair of shoes. Chun-Doong wakes up in the company of the butchers and the cobblers, who have nursed him back to health and suspect that there's more to him than his past suggests. As a result, they accept Chun-Doong as an apprentice. However, when Gwi-Dong learns that it was Chun-Doong who surprised him at the shed, the two come to blows only to discover they have much more in common than they care to admit

Dongnyo's father makes plans to leave for the capital to petition the ministers on the behalf of the peasants, whom the prefect, Gwi-Dong's uncle, has left famished and virtually penniless. Things threaten to get even worse when Butdol's father is beaten by the authorities for refusing to confess to a crime he never committed; as a consequence of trying to lobby for the man's freedom, Gwi-Dong finds himself at odds with his own family for trying to do what he knows is right