人權女律師闕沛盈受神祕台商委託，競標法拍的「曾氏老宅」並以高價得標，但一對競標失利的母女初妹、素敏，卻告知她們是曾家後代，懇求讓標。沛盈轉達給委託人，對方竟要求她訪談曾氏母女，以作為是否讓標的判斷。

沛盈來到曾家母女居住的花蓮，赫然發現父親署名的素敏少女畫像，意識到這對母女與她有所牽連。在日式老屋裡，老素敏娓娓道來：1920年代，身為長女的初妹如何在曾氏老宅率領兩個妹妹女耕女織；1940年，變成寡婦的初妹與養女素敏遷居花蓮，在吉安建立新家園；而228事件時，沛盈之父曾落腳吉安，和曾家母女共同經歷一場驚心動魄的事件…

Human right's lawyer Que Pei-Ying is commissioned by a secret Taiwanese businessman to bid for the Zeng family residence at a repossessed house auction, and wins the bidding at a high cost. However, after being beaten in the bidding, mother and daughter Chu-Mei and Su-Min beg Que Pei-Ying to yield her bid to them, saying that they are part of the Zeng family lineage. Pei-Ying conveys the request to the Taiwanese businessman who informs her to interview the mother and daughter before judging whether the bid should be yielded to them.

When Pei-Ying arrives at the home of the Zeng mother and daughter in Hualian and astonishingly discovers a signed portrait of a young Su-Min by her father, she realizes that the three of them may be connected. In the old Japanese style house, an elderly Su-Min slowly recounts the story of her mother Chu-Mei: of how in the 1920s, as the eldest daughter she was responsible for guiding her two younger sisters in plowing and weaving; of how after being widowed in 1940, Chu-Mei took her adopted daughter Su-Min to build a new home in Jian, Hualian; and of how following the 228 Massacre, Pei-Ying's father stayed for a time in Jian, where he and the Zeng family were to experience an incident that would shake them all to the very core…