The Crossing II

In a brutal World War II engagement in Manchuria, Major General Lei Yifang personally commands a high-stakes assault that overpowers entrenched Japanese lines. The victory demonstrates his resolve and tactical prowess, and it earns Lei a promotion to lieutenant general, marking a turning point in his career.

Dr. Yan Zenkun, a Chinese field medic conscripted into the Japanese army from Taiwan, is captured during the fighting and shipped to a prison camp in Fengtian. His capture highlights the personal costs of occupation and the fragility of loyalties in wartime.

On the train to the POW camp, Yan reads a letter from his Japanese lover Masako Shimura, a moment that underscores the human toll of a conflict tearing people apart. The intimate note lingers as he endures captivity and separation from loved ones.

A few years later, Yu Zhen volunteers as an orderly at a Nationalist hospital in Shanghai, clinging to the hope of reuniting with her boyfriend Yang Tianhu. She faces scarcity, blackout drills, and the city's fragility as war's reach extends into daily life.

Lei meets Zhou Yunfen at a charity event, and their undeniable chemistry leads to a marriage that symbolically unites two very different worlds. The union is tested by war, social expectations, and the pressure of diverging paths.

The following year, Tong Daqing arranges Yu and a borrowed baby to pose for a 'family portrait' to secure extra food rations. The act showcases wartime improvisation and the ways people stretch resources to survive.

In a noodle shop, Tong explains the odd logic of soldier identification numbers and how people can be counted as 'dead or alive.' Yu's smile hints at a memory of her lost lover, a small beacon amid the war's brutality.

Zhou, now pregnant, confides fears about being sent away to Taiwan as war forces families apart. Lei reassures her, but the prophecy of separation lingers as plans for departure begin to take shape.

The Zhou family sees Zhou off on the Taiping, while Lei watches from the shadows. A photograph of the moment circulates among Tong and others, anchoring memories of a life that may be left behind.

Yu's situation worsens as she scrambles for food, sleeps under a bridge, and eventually enters prostitution to survive. She clings to the hope of reuniting with Yang while the city labors under blackout drills and scarcity.

On the front, Lei's 12th Army nears encirclement during the Huaihai Campaign; supply lines are severed, and orders to breakout flicker and fail. Lei faces the grim reality of fighting compatriots and the moral weight of decisions made under pressure.

During a tank strike, Tong saves Lei Yifang's life, taking grave injuries in the process. Lei dies clutching his wedding photo, and Tong is entrusted with delivering Lei's diary to Zhou, preserving a memory that binds two families.

The 1949 Communist Revolution pushes three couples toward Taiwan, but their voyage ends in disaster when their ships collide with another. The disaster tests their resolve and reshapes the futures they had imagined.

Yan Zenkun survives the wreck and uses his medical skills to aid the wounded amid debris and panic. An Australian rescue vessel, HMAS, arrives to pull survivors from the wreckage, offering a glimmer of hope amid catastrophe.

Four months later, Zhou Yunfen gives birth to Lei Yifang's son, a quiet marker of life continuing beyond war. Tong arrives with Lei's diary, delivering a final testament that links a mother, a child, and a fallen husband across generations.