This romantic and emotionally dramatic series is centered around a privileged private school where the hierarchy is determined by how successful and rich your father is and what you have to gain as an inheritance. The lowest students in the hierarchy are those that are there as a student in need. The students are 18 and are all struggling with first loves, friendships, career paths and family issues and "arranged fiancés". Because of the different hierarchies one school punk takes on the role bullying the less fortunate.
A welcome change for me is that the story opens in LA in the US where one famous inheritor, Tan, has been living the life of luxury in a mansion alone for 3 years already. He was thrown out of his home and banished from Korea by his family due to a harsh father and rivalry with his older brother. The brothers have always been rivalries due to Tan's mother was a mistress. Tan is handsome with an edgy bad boy look that all the California girls love, but Tan is still lonely in his heart. The love story starts here in LA when he accidentally meets a Korean girl, Cha Eun Sang, who just arrived in the US searching for her sister to surprise her for her wedding. It turns out things weren't as her sister portrayed and things went from bad to worse. Eun Sang found herself sobbing all alone on the sidewalk with no where to go, all her money stolen, no passport with Tan watching from a distance. Even though Tan is an edgy, somewhat mysterious bad boy vibe, he has a good heart and helps her by inviting her to his mansion for a place to stay and to help get her passport back. Cha Eun Sang is scared of being murdered like in a horror film but with no other choice goes with him.
Cha Eun Sang does not know who he is in Korea and does what she needs to do to get her passport back and figure out a way to get money for a ticket to get back home. Do they fall in love? Let's just say that Cha Eun Sang calls it her Midnight Dream as she needs to get home to her disabled mother who she loves and helps. Her mother is waiting for her, and as much as it hurts her, she leaves Tan for her family wondering if it was really all a dream. Tan tries everything to stop her - he doesn't really know much about her - who she is or where she lives.
The next part is when Tan returns to Korea to try and resolve his issues with his family as his loneliness had been too much too bear. Tan is still obsessed with his memories he had in the US with Cha Eun Sang and is haunted at night in his home by the back of a woman with long hair that looks just like Cha Eun Sang and he can't sleep. He asks his mother if the place is haunted. Will Tan ever see Cha Eun Sang again? Perhaps she is closer than he ever imagined.
I loved the series being exposed to this type of atmosphere in the US - I think it is very realistic - corporate structures and wars, private schools, parents "fixing" children up on dates, wearing school uniforms so all kids look the same (poor kids sans jewelry), driving nice cars. Ups and downs with friends for money or love. So what can we ALL learn from this movie? Tan reminisces about a school lesson he had in the US where he wrote his feelings on a paper and turned it in before going back to Korea. The answer to what we can learn from this movie is in the ending and it is all worth watching and makes you think what's important in life.
