This novel explores the generally-frowned-upon topic of extramarital love and courtship. It is a story about desire and instinctive nature in humans. The narrator, Seung-yeon, is an average, middle-aged woman who has neglected her true self through the course of the hardships of trying to build a life with her husband. Hard times have now passed and her husband’s flower business is stable, and she herself is also socially recognized as an artistic florist. Seung-yeon, however, feels as if she’s lost sight of too much along the way. One regular day in her current peaceful and uneventful life, she meets Seok-hwan during a business trip to Japan, and she feels an unexpected tremble that she did not think she would experience again. She finds herself in front of the mirror, which she had been avoiding for a long time. The novel focuses on the essence of desire, which is always a part of relationships and love. This love has found its way to an average, middle-aged woman and helps her find her real self. 

The latter part of the novel shows us how Seung-yeon comes back to her everyday life, but it doesn’t signify that her desires are repressed. The author actually hints at the endless spawning of human desire through the depiction of the deep-reaching roots of a tea tree.