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In Episode 1 of this 2015 melodrama, the handsome, popular actor Ji Eun-ho walks from his dressing room onto the stage at a press conference, and a Q&A occurs.

Reporter: "What's the best thing about being famous?" Eun-ho: "It'll be easy to find the person I'm looking for."

Reporter: "Who are you looking for?" Eun-ho: "My fiancée."

Reporter: "What's her name?"

Before Eun-ho can answer that question, the story flashes back 20 years to when he was in high school and met and fell in love with Eun-dong, a girl in upper elementary school who had befriended him. By the end of Episode 1, Eun-dong has disappeared from his life, leaving him bereft and, unbeknownst to him, at the beginning of a long journey to find her.

That journey-their shared destiny-is at the heart of "This Is My Love." The journey will be long, winding, and filled with obstacles and mystery. In the language of '60s hippies, their journey will be "heavy." I found the series so heavy that I couldn't binge-watch the series. I needed a break from the tension now and then.

The two of them met-by accident, literally-when he was 15 and she was about 10, and they immediately formed a strong bond with each other. They swore allegiance to each other and sealed it with a handshake akin to a pinky swear.

Within days, however, that bond was torn when Eun-dong was orphaned by the death of her grandmother, adopted by a couple, and moved from her home in Chuncheon to Seoul. Eun-ho's twenty-year search for Eun-dong leads him to the press conference and his public declaration of his love for her. His search for Eun-dong immediately becomes a huge story in the media.

The characters, all played very well by an outstanding cast, include childhood friends and acquaintances of Eun-ho and Eun-dong; supportive parents and Eun-ho's sister; liars; and self-interested schemers.

The story of a twenty-year quest to find a loved one surely resonated with people on the Korean peninsula, which has been divided since 1945, when the Soviet Union and United States divided Korea along the 38th parallel and then occupied northern and southern portions, respectively. This division was to have been temporary, but it has endured for 74 years because Korea became-and still is-a pawn in the Cold War. Families with members on both sides of the divide have been separated from their loved ones for generations.

The excellent script, direction, and acting will keep you watching and wondering what will happen to the two lovers, whose lives and story play out in newspapers, on television, and in Eun-ho's book about his search for Eun-dong. I hope that you find this series as enjoyable as I did.

Three luminous sisters-the oldest one, Lee Seo-in (played by Im Sung-eon), is in a marriage that's gone from bad to worse; the middle one, Lee Jeong-in (Han Ji-min), is in a 4-year relationship that's gone sour; and the youngest one, Lee Jae-in (Joo Min-kyung), is a maverick who's not yet entangled with a partner-have each others' backs as they come to terms with themselves and the men in their lives. Their mother, Shin Jyeong-seon (Gil Hae-yeon) stands by them-and stands between them and the men in their lives, including their father, whose ideas about marriage are more traditional than those of his wife and daughters.

The plot revolves around Jeong-in's internal and external conflicts as she tries to extricate herself from one relationship (with Kwon Ki-seok, played by Kim Jun-han) and forge a new one with Yoo Ji-ho (Jung Hae-in, who also was a main character in "Something in the Rain"). Jeong-in seems to know where she wants to go with her life, but she can't quite find a path forward. Her performance is nuanced and evolves sweetly and strongly over the 16 episodes.

"One Spring Night" was directed by Ahn Pan-seok, who won awards for his work on "Something in the Rain." The cast of "One Spring Night" also includes several outstanding actors who worked with Ahn in the earlier series. Once again, the ensemble cast work together very well.

In "One Spring Night," Ahn seems to push the envelope for women even further than he did in the earlier series-or is he only reflecting ongoing cultural change in South Korea? The sisters are strong, wrestle with difficult choices, support each other, and are supported by their mother, who in middle age has begun to reclaim control of her own life. The sisters' female friends listen to them, share stories, give advice. The conversations among the sisters and their female friends are smart and sensitive. The men in their lives-many of them dressed in gray, black, or white-are often problematic, but some of them give sage advice and support to each other and the women in their lives.

The soundtrack is excellent and includes several songs-Rachael Yamagata's "No Direction," "We Could Still Be Happy," and "Is it You," as well as Oscar Dunbar's "Spring Rain" and Carla Bruni's "Spring Waltz"-that announce and accompany scenes with no dialog in which actors are thinking, lying in bed, walking in the park, riding in taxis, etc. In several slow-motion scenes, the music is synchronized to the actors' steps.

This is not a plot spoiler: Remember the rubber band in a drugstore scene in Episode 1!

This series warmed me-heart and soul. Check it out!