Plot

It is late 1598, shortly before the Battle of Noryang, the final confrontation of the Imjin War. The remnants of the Japanese invasion force are desperate to go home but are also driven by the personal motivation to beat their greatest adversary, Admiral Yi Sun Shin, once and for all. Self-serving Ming generals and Joseon officials also fear Yi's growing popularity and its impact on their personal base of power. These incidentally combining ambitions fan King Seon Jo's paranoia and make him eventually fear that Yi might come after his throne, and after a series of what he calls acts of high treason he decides to have Yi arrested. Yi, on the other hand, is determined to teach the Japanese a lesson for the atrocities they committed on the Korean people, and despite orders to remain quiet while the Japanese are to pull out without anymore bloodshed, he rallies his naval force and prepares for the upcoming battle. the battle commences and the Japanese are dealt a crippling blow, but Yi is fatally wounded by an arquebuse bullet. As he lays dying, the plot backtracks important stations of Yi's life, from his boyhood to his military career, his disgrace at the hands of his king and his reinstatement, back to the battle of Noryang, where he succumbs to his wound just as victory is declared.

Historical drama centered on the famous Korean Admiral Yi Soon-Shin (1545-1598), who saved Korea and China from conquest by Japan in a string of brilliant naval victories. Yi used iron-clad war ships more than 260 years before the Battle of Hampton Roads in the US Civil War (the Monitor vs. the Virginia). The drama deals with his life from childhood to his death in the midst of his final victorious battle against the Japanese, and shows the contributions made by his support staff and ship's crews.—The Grand Panjandrum

Based on the life and actual diaries of Navy Admiral Lee Soon Shin (or Yi Sun Shin) this historical epic television series follows the man who would become a legend and hero in Korean history. During the Choseon Dynasty, Lee Soon Shin was responsible for constructing the Geobukseon, or Turtle Ships, and turning the tides of the Seven-Year War against Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Japanese fleets. The historical epic television series depicts his life, from his early days struggling to become a magistrate to his final battle against Japan. Through a diverse ensemble cast, the story also shows life for the royal families of Korea and Japan, and civilians during that era.—Heather