In her previous life, Shen Zhaoning was persecuted to death by her husband, Zhao Tingyu, and her mother-in-law, Madam Cui. Reborn, she refuses to endure their abuse in silence. Using her father's authority as General Who Guards the North, she turns the tables on her mother-in-law's provocations, exposes her husband's gambling debts and secret mistress, and carefully brings down her stepmother, Zhou Yunniang, who has been plotting against her in secret. When Zhao Tingyu attempts to poison his own birth mother to prevent a divorce, Shen Zhaoning exposes his scheme in time. In the end, an imperial edict grants the divorce, and the emperor bestows a plaque honoring her chastity and virtue. At last, she breaks free from her shackles and grows into a towering tree that fears neither wind nor rain.