Under the oppressive Japanese colonial rule, Deok-hye, the last Princess of the declining Joseon Dynasty, is forced to move to Japan. She spends her days missing home, while struggling to maintain dignity as a princess. After a series of failed tries, Deok-hye makes her final attempt to return home with help of her childhood sweetheart, Jang-han.

The President of South Korea races against time to prove the seal on documents from long dead King Gojong is fake by charging outspoken historian Choi Min-jae, and a descendant of the royal bloodline Kim Yu-shik, to find the long lost seal in order to prove that the Japanese claim to railroads is false, a claim that will stop the reunification of the two Koreas.

Set towards the end of the 19th century, when coffee was first introduced to Korea, Russian sharpshooter Illichi and Joseon's first barista Danya are manipulated by Japanese officer Sadako into an elaborate plan to assassinate King Gojong.

At the end of the Joseon Dynasty, shortly after the Eulsa Treaty has been forced to be concluded by Ito Hirobumi and the pro-Japanese courtiers, Japan pressures King Gojong to step down from the throne. Meanwhile, An Jung-geun, who is cultivating men of ability at Samheung school, is deeply impressed by a speech made by An Chang-ho, and heads for Russia to volunteer the army fighting for independence of the country. As both a lieutenant general of the Korean militia and a commander of the Korean expeditionary force in Manchuria, he carries on the independence movement in defiance of Japanese coercion.