Killian is a young man who has never left the remote mountains of Huesca (Spain) which saw him grow up. In 1953, he travels back to the exotic Equatorial African island of Fernando Poo, in Spanish Guinee, where he was born, to work in a cacao plantation alongside his father and his brother. During 20 years in this island, until the troubled days of independence, he will undertake a journey towards maturity and knowledge, but will also have to deal with pain and loss.。60年代初,从美国留学回来的科学院博士耿尔满怀报国热忱,有一天在外文书店碰到了纺织女工薛晴。他被薛晴的的美丽和质朴吸引,薛晴也被耿尔的才华所折服。两个人都沉浸在幸福当中的时候,文革开始了。薛晴受到了种种政治上的冲击,耿尔则被下放参加劳动。有人给耿尔介绍了一个对象,桂林的小学老师小金。他们见面了,觉得很满意,渐渐地也相爱了。但是由于家庭出身的原因,他们两个还是不能结合。很多年后,当耿尔再见到薛晴的时候,她已经是个中年妇女了。小金也出现了,但是她已经嫁给了一个她不爱的人。。黄月娟丈夫从高处失足坠地而亡,月娟含辛茹苦好不容易将四个儿女抚养长大,谁知却依然命途多舛:长子家宝娶富家女为妻,家庭不和,导致月娟忧急成疾,半身不遂;小女儿交友不慎,爱上了抢劫犯梦生,虽被意中人救出,却不幸伤重而亡;长女家珍因弱智遭人强暴,二儿家贝营救中杀伤歹徒,因而入狱,案情大白后,家贝无罪释放。在月娟坎坷一生中,此时才露出一线曙光。。