Dae Jang-geum
The story is set in Korea during the reigns of King Seongjong (1457–1494), King Yeonsan (1494–1506) and King Jungjong (1506–1544). The epilogue also spans through King Injong (1544-1545) and King Myeongjong (1545-1567), with last scene depicts around year 1550s.
=== Executions - Episode 1 ===
At the outset, King Seongjong has ordered the execution by poisoning of his wife Deposed Queen Lady Yun, the mother of the first-born son, the young crown prince (the future Prince Yeonsan). After carrying out the execution, one of the royal guards, Seo Cheon-soo, is haunted by it. On his way home, he suffers an accident and is rescued by a mysterious hermit with a cryptic message—that his life will revolve around three women: the first he has already met; another he will save, but will die because of him; and the third will kill him, but will go on to save many lives. It doesn't become clear until later in the story that the three women are the poisoned Deposed Queen Lady Yun, Park Myeong-yi (Seo's eventual wife and the mother of Jang-geum) and Jang-geum (the main character and Seo's only daughter). Haunted by the curse of the executed deposed queen and his prophesied fate at the hands of the third woman, he abandons his post and also becomes a hermit, refusing to take a wife.
=== Park Myeong-yi - Episodes 1 - 2 ===
After many years, the former king dies and the Crown Prince ascends the throne as the 10th king of Joseon. Park Myeong-yi is a palace girl (or gungnyeo) and apprentice cook of the royal kitchen (soorangan). She witnesses a fellow apprentice, a girl from the powerful Choi clan named Choi Seong-geum, slip poison into the Great Royal Dowager Queen's food. Unaware that the senior kitchen officers are part of a conspiracy against the said Queen, Myeong-yi informs the fragrance kitchen officer Kim sanggong (choi-go sanggung). The officers, fearful that Myeong-yi might reveal their conspiracy, attempt to murder her by framing her committing adultery with a royal guard, then executing her with poison. Myeong-yi's best friend, Han Baek-young, witnesses the crime and manages to secretly save her by secretly diluting the poison with an antidote. She leaves the unconscious Myeong-yi a letter explaining what had happened. As Seo Cheon-soo wanders through the forest in his self-imposed hermitage, he stumbles upon the half-conscious Myeong-yi. He rescues her and the two fall in love and marry. They end up living peacefully in a remote village as lower caste commoners (Seo Cheon-soo posing as a butcher and village weapon smith) and raise a clever daughter named Seo Jang-geum.
=== Jang-geum ===
When Jang-geum was eight years old, king Yeongsangun learned about the murder of his mother and vowed revenge, seeking and killing people who were previously involved. Among them was Jang-geum's father, who so far managed to hide his identity. However, following an incidence, Jang-geum accidentally revealed her father's identity and caused him to be arrested. Jang-geum's mother, rushing on the way to Hanyang to visit her husband, was spotted by Choi's family and eventually killed by an arrow. Jang-geum, now an orphan, was adopted by Kang Duk-gu and Na Joo-daek, a family making a living through selling wine.
=== Entering the palace and becoming kitchen maid ===
Two years later, Jang-geum enters the palace after king Jungjong ascends to the throne. She is committed to be able to enter the middle kitchen (where her mother used to cook) to uncover her mothers letter written for Jang-geum. During this time, she meets Lady Han who then uncovers Jang-geum as Myeong-yi's daughter. They form a mother-daughter bond. The Right Minister Oh Gyeom-ho (the Choi clan's ally within the Royal Cabinet) frame Lady Han and Jang-geum as traitors in league with Jo Gwang-jo, the famous Joseon reformer. In an effort to save Jang-geum, Lady Han declares that she alone is guilty of treason. Nonetheless, both are judged guilty and sent to Jeju Island to work as government slaves. On the way to Jeju, Lady Han dies from her injuries. Lady Choi replaces her as the choi-go sanggung, while Jang-geum vows revenge.
=== In exile at Jeju ===
Min Jeong-ho follows Jang-geum to Jeju Island. He offers to help Jang-geum escape, but she refuses since doing so would mean never being able to return to the palace to not only clear Lady Han's name, but obtain justice for her mother's death. Min Jeong-ho declares he will wait for her and help her out throughout her stay in Jeju.
On Jeju Island, Jang-geum meets a woman named Jang-deok, whom she first mistakes for a fellow slave. She soon discovers that Jang-deok is a famous female doctor. Jang-deok's blunt and forthright manner at first offend her, but as time goes by, she begins to see that the female doctor is dedicated and caring. As the days go by, Jang-geum realizes that her only way back to the palace is to become a female physician (uinyeo). She begs Jang-deok to teach her medicine. Jang-geum's friend, Jeong Woon-baek, an eccentric royal physician, disapproves of her decision to pursue medicine in order to take revenge on the Choi clan. In spite of this, Jang-geum perseveres and earns herself a post as a female doctor-in-training at the palace.
Upon returning to the palace, Jang-geum encounters Choi Geum-young, who, during Jang-geum's absence has been promoted to choi-go sanggung. The ruthlessly ambitious Lady Choi has ousted the former head officer of the palace (jae-jo sanggung; one of their former allies), and now occupies that position herself. Min Jeong-ho is a lieutenant and a member of the King's Royal Cabinet. Jang-geum's childhood best friend, Lee Yeon-saeng, also a gungnyeo, has caught the king's eye, and is now his concubine (sang-gung). Jang-geum endures many trials at the palace, from being forced to wash the feet of Geum-young, to a backstabbing uinyeo named Park Yeol-yi. In spite of this, Jang-geum manages to accomplish great feats, such as halting an epidemic and saving the king's life when the king's own physicians fail.
With Jang-geum's status rising, several events ensue that lead to an investigation of the Choi clan, resulting in the prosecution of Lady Choi, her elder brother and several high-ranking officials, including the Chief State Councillor. Everyone tries to escape, but only Lady Choi manages to evade the guards. Jang-geum finds her and asks if she is willing to sacrifice her niece, Geum-young, to the authorities while she herself escapes. Having abandoned her ethics and conscience for the sake of the Choi clan a long time ago, Lady Choi is unable to respond. Torn between self-preservation and guilt, Lady Choi wanders the countryside hallucinating. She ends up falling off a cliff off Mount Dongin and dies (but not before speaking and paying respects in front of the memorial grave of her former friend Park Myeong-yi, Jang-geum's mother). Choi Geum-young loses her position as choi-go sanggung and is exiled along with the other officials.
Through her dedication, perseverance and medical skills, Jang-geum saves the royal family from re-occurring, seemingly never-ending ill fortune. After giving birth to a stillborn child, Queen Consort Munjeong remains ill. Jang-geum correctly identifies a second stillborn fetus in the Queen Consort's womb and saves her life. She convinces the Dowager Queen Mother to undergo medical treatment at the risk of being beheaded. She also cures Grand Prince Gyeongwon, only son of Queen Consort Munjeong, of smallpox, which earns the permanent gratitude of the Queen Consort.
=== Court physician ===
For her achievements King Jungjong makes Jang-geum a 6th rank official and appoints her to be his personal physician, the first woman to hold such a position. The court is in uproar and the state councillors unanimously oppose the appointment on the grounds that it violates the country's constitution. When the Dowager Queen Mother humiliates herself to express her disapproval, the king revokes his decision. She urges the king to take Jang-geum as one of his concubines. Although the king is in love with Jang-geum, he refrains from making her one of his concubines against her will. Jang-geum contains a small pox epidemic, and the king finally decrees her his personal physician. She is granted the honorific Dae (meaning "The Great"), as well as the position of a 3rd rank official.
Jang-geum fears that accepting this position will endanger her friends and family. However, with Min Jeong-ho's support, she accepts. The ministers and scholars of the court bitterly accept the decree, but demand that the king punish Min Jeong-ho for supporting Jang-geum's appointment. Seeing an opportunity to separate the lovers, the king agrees and Jeong-ho is sentenced to exile.
=== Escape, and fugitives from the law ===
Eventually, the king's previous medical condition re-emerges. Jang-geum attempts to heal him using all the medical equipment and knowledge available at the time. The other doctors offer advice but nothing works; the king is dying. Jang-geum resorts to her last option—an experimental technique using newly "discovered" anesthesia and surgery. However, the king's body is considered sacred and the court unanimously opposes this new procedure, and the king decides not to allow the operation. Knowing Jang-geum's life will be in danger after his death, the repentant king grants her escape to be with Min Jeong-ho. Jang-geum and Jeong-ho live as fugitives.
Eight years later, Jang-geum's daughter, Min So-Hoon, is spotted by her adoptive father, who, following her and seeing Jang Geum, alerts Jang-geum's friends in the palace. By this time King Jungjong has been dead, along with his appointed Crown Prince (who became King Injong, who ruled for less than a year plagued by a life of ill health. The second-in-line to succeed the throne is Grand Prince Gyeongwon, the only child and son of Queen Munjeong, who is now both the Great Royal Dowager Queen and the Regent, wielding enormous power. When she learns that Jang-geum is still in the country, she invites her and Jeong-ho to return to the palace and be reinstated to their previous positions. Jang-geum and Jeong-ho joyfully return, but decide for the sake of their family to live outside the palace. Jang-geum leaves the palace not before seeing her friends, Lee Suk-Won, Queen Consort, and a few others from afar.
As they return to their previous routine, Jang-geum comes across a pregnant woman, and successfully uses her surgical skills to deliver the woman's baby via Caesarean section, thus becoming the first physician in Korea to undertake such a surgical procedure. While Jang-geum celebrates her success, Jeong-ho laments the repressive social climate of Korea, and its inability to accommodate a woman with ambitions.
romantic