Autumn in My Heart

Plot

The story begins with toddler, Yoon Joon-suh accidentally causing the switch of his sister and another baby when he drops the name cards on the two babies' cribs in the hospital's baby room. A nurse who comes in puts the name cards back incorrectly. The story then jumps forward to the teenage years of the two main characters: Yoon Eun-suh (Moon Geun-young) and Yoon Joon-suh (Choi Woo-hyuk). Eun-suh is the most popular girl in class, which incites the jealousy of her rival, Choi Shin-ae (Lee Ae-jung), is smart but does not get the attention she craves from the teacher and classmates.

When Eun-suh gets hit by a truck and needs a blood transfusion, it is found out that she is not the Yoons' biological daughter, but instead belongs to the Choi, whereas Choi Shin-ae is the Yoons' biological daughter. In the end, the two daughters return to their original birth parents. Shin-ae moves in with the Yoon family, and Eun-suh moves in with Mrs. Choi, (her biological father is dead) who operates a small restaurant living in abject poverty. Their situations are reversed, and now Shin-ae is the more popular girl in class whereas Eun-suh is ignored.

Shortly after the switch, the Yoon family moves to the United States and Eun-suh loses touch with them. Ten years later, Joon-suh (Song Seung-heon) returns to South Korea as a successful artist. He goes back to the town he lived in, where he encounters his old friend, Han Tae-seok (Won Bin), who stays at the hotel where Eun-suh (Song Hye-kyo) works as a telephone receptionist. Tae-seok, (who doesn't know about the brother and sister mix-up) falls in love with Eun-suh and manipulates her until she is fired from her job. One day Eun-suh sees Joon-suh and follows him to the beach where he is with Yumi (his fiancée) and Tae-seok, and the two "siblings" finally meet again after ten years.

Eun-suh and Joon-suh appears to have a sibling relationship in front of the others, but they meet each other secretly and fall in love, though she always refers to him as "older brother." Shin-ae (Han Chae-young) finds out about their relationship and exposes the two after she finds a love letter Eun-suh wrote to Joon-suh. The two decide to stay together, but are soon forced apart again because their parents are against the union, and Yumi hurts herself and blackmails Joon-suh with suicide to hold on to him.

As a fight between Joon-suh and Tae-seok erupts over their love for Eun-suh, she discovers she has leukemia (the same fatal condition that killed her biological father). She doesn't tell anyone except Tae-seok, who offers to pay for her treatment. When her health deteriorates, the others begin finding out the extent of her condition. Eun-suh soon falls into a coma. Joon-suh finds out about Eun-suh's health and reacts with shock and fear, while Tae-seok forces Joon-suh to try to wake up Eun-suh. Eventually, Eun-suh woke up, but is too weak to follow the treatment. When it is clear that there is no hope, Joon-suh takes her home so she can spend her last days with him. At this point, Yumi finally lets go of Joon-suh. Joon-suh proposes to Eun-suh and they get married. Eun-suh dies as Joon-suh carries her around the beach where they spent her birthday as teenagers.

Before Eun-suh dies, she tells Joon-suh to move on and continue living. However, Joon-suh, dazed and grief-stricken by the death of his love, is struck by a truck in the same place as Eun-suh's accident during her teenage years. Whether he lives or dies is unknown.

Main characters

Supporting characters

Soundtrack

The 13-track soundtrack for Autumn in My Heart includes Jung Il-young's heartfelt ballads "Reason", "Prayer" and "In My Dream" as well as the main flute theme and the guitar and piano versions of some of the songs. "Romance", also known as "Forbidden Love" is a classic piece used for this soundtrack. It comes from a famous work of unknown authorship "Spanish Romance".

1. Main Title (Flute ver.)
2. Reason – Jung Il-young
3. Romance – Choi Tae-won
4. Gido (Prayer) – Jung Il-young
5. Remember – Park Jung-Won
6. Eolmana Naega (Sincerely) – Yoon Chang-gun
7. Reason (Instrumental ver.)
8. Romance (Piano ver.) – Lee Hong-rae
9. Nunmul (Tears) – Lee Hong-rae
10. Eolmana Naega (Sincerely) (Guitar ver.) – Guitar by Ham Choon-ho
11. Kkum Sogeseo (In My Dream) – Jung Il-young
12. Eolmana Naega (Sincerely) (Piano ver.) – Piano by Yoo Jung-young
13. Gido (Prayer) (Piano ver.)

A song played during emotional scenes, but excluded from the soundtrack, was "Return to Love" by Kevin Kern.

International broadcast

The series has been broadcast in several countries, including Singapore in 2001, Indonesia in 2002, the Philippines in 2003 and Sri Lanka and Mexico in 2007. In the Philippines it was re-broadcast multiple times and received a peak viewership rating of 39.7% in 2003, placing it among the top ten highest rated Asian dramas to air in the country. It also aired in Mongolia, Malaysia, Nepal, Puerto Rico, Egypt, Peru, Thailand, Vietnam (VTV1) and Hong Kong.

Autumn in My Heart was aired via GMA Network's primetime block in 2003 under the title Endless Love: Autumn in My Heart.

Awards

Remakes