Caleb Rowan grew up an orphan and was taken in by Victor Redwick, the founding chairman of Redwick Group, a powerful multinational corporation. Intelligent, disciplined, and relentlessly driven, Caleb rises purely on merit, eventually becoming a nationally recognized Gold Medal Award recipient from the Department of Commerce, earning the attention of political and business elites.

Just as Caleb prepares to fully launch his career, Victor suddenly falls critically ill. Leveraging gratitude and obligation, Victor pressures Caleb into marrying his daughter, Eliza Redwick.

Caleb has harbored feelings for Eliza since they were young. Believing patience and devotion can eventually move her heart, he agrees to the marriage and proposes a three-year agreement.

What Caleb doesn’t realize is that Eliza has never let go of her first love, Miles Keaton, her emotional "one who got away." Out of guilt and lingering attachment, she repeatedly shields Miles and takes his side, hurting Caleb again and again.

Through repeated humiliation and emotional neglect, Caleb gradually loses hope. He chooses divorce and walks away from the Redwick family, only to reconnect with Lydia Kingswell, a woman who has quietly loved him for years. Their relationship develops quickly and sincerely.

To Eliza, however, everything Caleb does feels like a calculated mind game meant to provoke her jealousy.

When Eliza escalates her provocations, Caleb finally draws a line. He withdraws the business deals he personally secured for Redwick Group over the years and exposes Miles' fabricated résumé and criminal past.

Only then does Eliza learn the truth and collapse into regret. But by then, Caleb has already entered a new marriage with Lydia.