Life is Beautiful

Chairman Yu is a tycoon who owns multiple hotel chains. He decides to hand his business down to his impulsive younger daughter, Hee-Jung, who studied hotel management in Switzerland. His older daughter, Su-Jung, is a concert pianist. Hee-Jung learns the business by starting at the bottom in the P.R. Department. She has a deep emotional scar from an incident where her first boyfriend was killed trying to save her life. To expand his business, Chairman Yu decides to build a resort town next to a casino in Sabuk, a deserted mine town in Kangwon Province. In the process, Chairman Yu's right-hand man is confronted by a local hoodlum (Jae-min) who wants to preserve his hometown the way it is. Jae-min's uncanny resemblance to Hee-Jung's dead boyfriend gets her involved in the business such that she has to go against her father in order to help Jae-min.

Directed by Moon Bo-hyun, Life is Beautiful leans on a strong ensemble — Ha Ji-won, Kim Rae-won, Jung Bo-seok — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The series landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 2001.