Songlian (Gong Li), who had just finished college for half a year, was forced by her greedy mother to marry into the Chen family compound and became the fourth concubine of the master. There is an old rule in the Chen family that the concubines have to stand in front of their own rooms in the evening, waiting for the big red lanterns sent by the servants, which means that they have been "favored" by the master. At first, because of her "new" status, Songlian was favored by the master the most, but she was also squeezed by the other three concubines, especially the smiling and dagger-hiding second concubine (Cao Cuifen), and she complained bitterly. Because she was not experienced in the world, Songlian, who was rebellious and strong by nature, was eager to fight for a breath, and made a plan to become a popular person around the master again, but she didn't want her plan to be seen through, and finally failed at the hands of the second concubine, resulting in tragedy. Although the experience of the third concubine (He Saifei) was very different from Songlian, they also ended up in the same way and could not escape their fate.