Left to fend for herself in a run-down apartment since the age of fourteen, Yu-yeong understands the crushing weight of loneliness all too well. So when she finds eight-year-old Si-an sitting alone on the apartment stairs like an abandoned child, she cannot bring herself to walk away. She takes him in, and over the years, the two abandoned souls become each other’s sole family in a cold world.

One day, little Si-an asks with wide eyes, “What do I need to do to marry you, Noona?”

Smiling at his innocence, Yu-yeong tosses out a playful joke: “Just grow up, get into Harvard at the top of your class, and graduate valedictorian.”

It was supposed to be a harmless joke to tease a child—until years later, when Si-an returns, ready to hand over his diploma.