During the Korean War, while attempting to escape North Korea, Geum-soon (Go Doo-shim) is separated from her husband and infant son. She manages to make it to South Korea where she begins her new life, running Nakwon Inn on Korea's southern coast, while waiting for her lost family. She remarries, has a son and grandchildren and builds the Nakwon Group, the top hotel chain in the country. Years later, at a reunion between separated families, Geum-soon gets a chance to meet her grown-up North Korean son and his son named Ri Moon-sung. She tried to invite them to live with her in the South for a better life but her son refused, having been brainwashed by North Korean propaganda, causing him to despise his mother for being a capitalist. But at the next reunion, she is informed about the death of her son, losing any contact with the grandson as well. In the present day, Geum-soon is dying of cancer and has only three months left. Geum-soon's granddaughter and the manager of the hotel, Park Se-yeon (Ha Ji-won), works hard to protect Nakwon's name and keep the chain in the family while her elder brother tries to sell it. Meanwhile, Geum-soon's trusted right-hand man, Jeong Sang-cheol (Sung Dong-il) who has been searching for her North Korean grandson for years, finally tracks him down only to learn that he has become a smuggler and a violent criminal operating in China. Jeong decides to keep this truth from Geum-soon but comes up with a plan to grant her last wish to meet her grandson again. Jeong then approaches Yoo Jae-hoon (Kang Ha-neul), a struggling actor of an unknown theater company who does several part time jobs to make ends meet, after watching his performance as a North Korean soldier in a play. Jeong asks Yoo to impersonate Geum-soon's North Korean grandson. In exchange for 500 million won, Yoo begins to play that role for three months.
