In a tavern during the early 1960s, Dong Ho, who is in his 30s, recalls his past as he is listening to a rendition of "pansori" sung by the tavern owner. Dong Ho and his sister were raised by the pansori singer Yu Bong, who treats them sternly and with a strict training regimen in his attempts to make serious artists of them as Yu Bong feels that a truly great pansori artist must suffer. Eventually, Dong Ho runs away, but his sister stays behind.