1920年，山口淑子生于奉天，在父母亲（桥爪功 & 名取裕子 饰）的影响下，她从小学习汉语，对中国存有深深的感情。为了治疗肺病，淑子同白俄好友柳芭向波多列索夫夫人学习声乐。其美妙的歌喉和流利的汉语引起满洲广播局“满洲之声”工作人员的注意，从此淑子用义父所赐的中文名“李香兰”（上户彩 饰）走进大众视野。

　　为进一步推广“五族协和”，正在北京读书的淑子在父亲的好友山家先生的引荐下（小野武彦 饰）走入满映的摄影基地。她在歌唱和表演方面的才华很快得到中国和日本国民的认同，成为炙手可热的明星。然而中国人和日本人的双重身份令她备受煎熬，“李香兰”这个名字既是她的成功凭借，又是她的痛苦之源。随着战争结束，一代名伶的命运开始面临时代的审判……

　　改编自山口淑子（李香兰）的自传。

Tells the story of Yamaguchi Yoshiko, a Japanese woman born and raised in China during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. She debuts as the Chinese singer and actress Li Xianglan (Ri Kouran in Japanese), in the hopes that her efforts will work towards the benefit of both Japan and China. Hiding her true nationality, however, she slowly discovers herself becoming a puppet of the Japanese military's propaganda efforts in Manchuria, starring in "national policy" films that humiliate the Chinese people. But billed as the "star of Greater East Asia," her popularity soars across borders to Japan, where she holds a concert that draws thousands to the Nihon Gekijou Theatre and leads to a riot that injures several people. Based on her autobiography, this is the story of her personal struggle amidst military strife between her two homelands.