Heaven & Earth

Jung Mu-young (Park Hae-jin) was left by his birth-mother under the care of Kim Tae-shik (Jung Han-yong) and his wife Park Myung-ja (Jung Ae-ri) when he was very young. His mother promised to come after him later but she never did. The Kim family raised Mu-young like he was their own son but never changed his family name because they thought his birth-mother might later come to pick him up. Despite a lack of money, Myung-ja has managed to keep the family together; moreover, she never once treated Mu-young any differently than her biological son, still having a different family name with his older brother Kim Sang-hyun (Lee Joo-hyun) made him escape home several times. Mu-young is outwardly rebellious, unforgiving, and in constant conflict with his family; he keeps an emotional distance from them, for fear of getting hurt one day. At school he meets the cheerful and kindhearted Seok Ji-soo (Han Hyo-joo), who not only values her family greatly, but goes out of her way to help others. Thinking too highly of Ji Soo and too low of himself and aware of the possible negative reaction her family might have toward his confession to her, he tries making a distance between himself and Ji Soo.

As a grown up, Ji-soo begins working for Myung-ja's stepsister Park Myung-joo (Yoon Hae-young), and learns that she and her single father Seok Jong-hoon (Hong Yo-seob) are in love and she fully supports her father's newfound romance. She is also seeing a rich family's son who wants to propose to her.

Heaven & Earth tackles the issues the modern family faces, such as the difficulties faced by stepparents and stepchildren; conflicts between biological and adoptive parents; the aftermath of a remarriage; and the high divorce rate among the younger generation, and resulting involuntary childcare from their grandparents.

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