The Yellow Turban rebellion sets the Han dynasty on the road to collapse and throws China into turmoil. Liu Bei, still a minor figure, searches for a way to restore order and befriends two mighty warriors, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, who swear the Oath of the Peach Garden with him, pledging to live and die together for justice. Cao Cao, equally small at the outset, weighs how to meet his destiny as a hero in chaotic times or a villain in peaceful ones. Power first rests with the usurping warlord Dong Zhuo and his champion Lu Bu, but a quarrel over a woman splits them apart, and the gap that follows gives Cao Cao his opening. Adapted from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, this historical drama is the first of three films, ending with war spread across the country and no side victorious.