Themes of racial tension and xenophobia, social inequality, and rumination on the effect of foreign policy and international trade on the quotidien are prevalent throughout the series; however, the romantic comedy aspect remains at the forefront for the majority of the narrative.

William is swindled by a shady merchant into believing that a plain porcelain chamber pot is a mystical artifact; he then sails off to Nagasaki in order to open the "aquatic silk road" between Japan and England, but mostly to escape his creepy and overbearing mother and an arranged marriage.

The people who live on the island derive their livelihoods by diving for abalone, cultivating a large area of persimmon orchards, and basic subsistence farming; much of what they produce is tithed to the King through a corrupt local government.

Park Gyu (Im Joo-hwan) arrives from Hanyang (the historical name for Seoul) on a secret mission from the King to uncover corruption, embezzlement, and whatever else he may find on Tamra.

However, his cover story leads to a tangle of complications for him: used to being doted on as an aristocratic scholar and high government official, he is sent to Tamra on the pretense of having been at the center of a sexual harassment scandal for which he has been permanently banished to the island, where he will have to work for a local family despite not being used to manual labor.