Director Lee Hyeong-pyo tells us in the opening narration that his film will reflect 'a time when the old age and the new stand shoulder to shoulder.' Kim Hak-gyu, a doctor of Oriental medicine, spends his days hanging out with two friends -- a fortuneteller and a realtor. The three conduct their business from Kim's home in a small alley of traditional Korean homes. Ordinary life happens around this trio, as does trouble. Kim's family problems take center stage throughout most of the film. His stubbornness and arrogance create conflicts for his family and his friends. Across the street from his home is the modern office of Choi Du-Yeol, a doctor of Western medicine, who shares a mutual attraction with Kim's daughter, a widow. Choi knows that Kim frowns on his Western practice as well as his interest in his daughter. Kim's son, Hyeon-gyu, is dating a woman who becomes pregnant. When the two decide to get married, Kim objects and kicks his son out of the house, which stirs other troubles. The trio of friends cheats a couple who want their fortune read out of their wishes as well as their money. And when Choi decides to run for city council, Kim hears of this and decides to run against him despite the warning of his family that this will wreak havoc on them. Lessons come hard for this family as it makes its way toward the modern world. But as in real life, sweetness mingles with the bitter as the meaning and value of family and friends emerge.