The Crossing

Major General Lei Yifang personally commands a daring assault that overthrows enemy positions and breaks Japanese resistance. His troops rout the lines and secure victory. The triumph earns Lei a promotion to lieutenant general, elevating his status during the war.

Dr. Yen Zekun, conscripted into the Japanese army from Taiwan, is taken prisoner after the battle. He is shipped to a prison camp in Fengtian where his fate is bound for years. The capture sows the seeds for future moral and personal conflicts.

During the journey back to the camp, Yen reads a letter from Masako, revealing the depth of their complicated relationship. The letter heightens Yen's inner conflict between honor and love. It becomes a poignant memory that haunts him across the years.

A few years later, Yu Zhen, poor and illiterate, volunteers at a Nationalist hospital in Shanghai. She clings to the hope of reuniting with her boyfriend Yang Tianhu, who fights on the opposing side. Her life is defined by struggle and quiet resolve.

Lei encounters Zhou Yunfen, a wealthy debutante, at a charity event and they fall into a conspicuous romance. Their chemistry is obvious to all, and months later they marry. The union links political life with personal passion.

The next year, Yu Zhen meets signal sergeant Tong Daqing and agrees to a family portrait with a borrowed baby. They pose for a composite image to help secure meals amid wartime scarcity. The photo foreshadows later deceptions and blurred identities.

Outside the studio, a student anti-war protest erupts as the city pools through turmoil. Dr. Yen arrives and asks the proprietor to alter the photo to show him with Masako, exploiting the moment. The incident underscores how truth becomes a casualty of war.

Now pregnant, Zhou Yunfen worries about leaving her homeland and future child. She departs for Taiwan aboard the Taiping, with a cousin taking a photo that captures Lei Yifang in the background. Lei watches from the shadows, bound to a distance that cannot be bridged.

Back in Shanghai, Yu Zhen struggles to find work as the war drains resources. She becomes a dancing girl at a club, then turns to prostitution to secure food and a way to travel in search of her missing lover. The city’s fall into chaos matches her own moral descent.

Lei's 12th Army nears encirclement as supply lines are severed during the Huaihai Campaign. He orders a breakout, but the plan is undermined by countermanding orders. He laments fighting fellow Chinese instead of foreign invaders.

Tong discovers that the 108th Division has defected to the Communists. He attempts to report the betrayal, but his ally resists and the moment exposes shifting loyalties in the war. He carries the truth back to Lei amid mounting chaos.

As the Nationalist lines crumble, Tong reports to Lei about the desertion and is told to press on. Lei entrusts Tong with his diary and urges him to keep faith. A tank shell tears into the command post, and Lei is killed, leaving his diary to endure beyond him.

In 1949, three couples make for Taiwan, but a drunken captain causes a fatal collision between ships. The vessel sinks within minutes, throwing survivors into the cold sea. The disaster begins a harrowing struggle for survival.

Zekun uses his medical skills to aid the wounded but is stabbed and dies, envisioning Masako in his final moments. Yu Zhen is later reunited with the injured Tong Daqing among the wreckage as survivors cling to debris.

The survivors are finally rescued by HMAS. Four months later, Zhou Yunfen gives birth to Lei Yifang's son, while Tong Daqing arrives with news of Lei's death and brings Lei's diary, secured with Yu Zhen's help. Zhou thanks Tong and Yu Zhen for preserving the memory of a man who helped shape their lives.