The Secret Lovers - Episode 1

The Secret Lovers starring Han Ji Hye, Kim Suk Hoon, Song Seon Mi and Kwon Oh Joong

Han Ji Hye of East of Eden and Kim Suk Hoon of Empress Chun Chu head this drama in which four young people explore the depth and nature of love and the reasons for marriage. The Secret Lovers asks is it for love, money, equal social standing or intelligence?

After being abandoned by her mother, Seo Young Ji (played by Han Ji Hye) is left with her alcoholic father and two siblings and forced to take on a series of part-time jobs in order to support the family. Optimistic in the face of her difficulties, she dreams of becoming a famous writer, and jots down notes as she travels between jobs. She carefuly invests all her money in the bank, where she meets and falls for Choi Do Kyeong (Kwon Oh Joong), a bank employee who is almost as poor as she is.

Do Kyeong, however, is a social climber with his sights set on marrying into money, and after briefly dating Young Ji he breaks up with her, telling her that's she's too poor. Increasingly desperate, and sensing that as a high school graduate with no university education she won't be able to get ahead in life, Young Ji goes to see her friend Jeong Ah-Mi (Song Seon Mi), a plastic surgeon, hoping that by changing her appearance she can better her life.

Ah-Mi has other ideas, however, and asks Young Ji as a favor to take her place and masquerade as her on a blind date set up by her parents. Young Ji is supposed to antagonize the date, but Kim Jun Woo (Kim Suk Hoon), a wealthy art director, is instead attracted to her, and soon the two begin seeing more of each other. Jun Woo, however, thinks that she's a plastic surgeon - what will he do when he finds out that she's a mere high school graduate with a dependent family? He may love her, but will reality be too much for him? When Ah-Mi eventually meets Jun Woo, she wishes she'd gone on her own blind date, meanwhile Do Kyeong sets his eyes on the financially successful Ah-Mi...

This series is also known as A Man and A Woman.