Life for Life

Artist Name	Character Name
Cheung Tat Ming	Dai Yiu Tung
Mariane Chan	Chong Yuk Suet (Jo)
Mui Siu Wai	Fong Ka Hei
Louisa So	Ah Ngor
Yuen Siu Cheurng
Ben Wong	Henry
Michael Tse	a God in heaven --> later takes over Cheung Tat Ming's body

The series is about two females, Mariane Chan (Chong Yuk Suet) and Mui Siu Wai (Fong Ka Hei) whose destinies are switched after a compassionate God in heaven, Michael Tse, changes their fate in the book of life and death, "sung sei chak". Mariane Chan is a ruthless but talented lawyer who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. As the mistress of the law firm's boss, Ben Wong, she yields power in the firm and she is rude to the staff. For that reason, the employees in the law firm dislike her. She has a grandmother who is in a nursing home and a father whom she doesn't recognize. Mariane thinks only of money and doesn't care for those around her. She even takes advantage of her cousin, Louisa So.

On the other hand, Miu Siu Wai is a kind and gentle individual, fresh out of law school. She has hopes of helping people. Mui Siu Wai ends up working under Mariane at the law firm. Although Siu Wai is very nice, she is plagued by serious heart problems and doesn't have long to live. She's always doing volunteer work and she treats her co-workers and friends very well. For that reason, everyone likes her. Even Michael Tse, one of the Gods in heaven who are in charge of bringing the dead's soul back there, has fallen in love with her sweet nature. One time, he took Siu Wai's soul by accident because she had the same name as another old lady who was going to die and he got a chance to speak with her. When he realized that he took the wrong soul, he had to bring her back down to earth. He gave Siu Wai a little crystal pendant that she liked. Siu Wai awoke in the hospital holding the pendant but she had no recollection of what had happened. After Michael sees the evilness in Mariane and the kindness in Mui Siu Wai, Michael decides to take fate into his own hands and he switches the death dates for Mariane and Siu Wai. However, he is caught in the act and is chased by another God. Michael runs from heaven and in the hospital, he climbs into the body of someone who has just died, Cheung Tat Ming.

Cheung Tat Ming was one of those people that sat around doing nothing. He liked to watch pretty girls and was never serious to his girlfriend, Louisa So. He always took advantage of his family and his friend, Yuen Siu Cheurng. A few years ago, Yuen had saved Louisa when she tried to commit suicide by jumping in the water. However, Cheung Tat Ming claimed credit for saving her. Louisa loved Chueng because she thought that he saved her. Unknown to her, Yuen has always been secretly in love with her.

A man thought that Cheung was sleeping with his girl so he chased him with a knife and Cheung Tat Ming got run over by a car and was killed. This was when Michael Tse went into his body. After he awoke, he seems to have become a completely different person in the eyes of his friends and family. Michael has no recollection of the past because he drank some kind of water that was supposed to make him forget about his past life before he left heaven. However, he remembers bits and pieces of Siu Wai.

Soon after, Miu Siu Wai's heart problems are cured after she undergoes major surgery. True to the book of life and death, Mariane soon finds out that she has heart problems and doesn't have long to live. Mariane slowly becomes more likeable.

Cheung Tat Ming (who is really Michael Tse now) somehow feels attached to Siu Wai. He does volunteer work because of her and he is always helping Siu Wai, thus making his girlfriend, Louisa, very jealous. Cheung even gets to the point where he tries to find ways of breaking up with Louisa but everytime, his plan backfires and she ends up more and more in love with him. Finally, Cheung urges his friend Yuen Siu Cheurng to go after Louisa but when she finds out, she beats the heck out of both of them with a broom and breaks up with Cheung Tat Ming. After the break-up, Louisa demands her $720,000 back from Cheung Tat Ming (Michael Tse). Cheung Tat Ming promises to give Louisa the money back. Therefore, he takes on multiple jobs, including one at the law firm which Mariane, Siu Wai, and Yuen Siu Cheurng all work at. However, in the end, Cheung's mom paid the money back by giving Louisa 60% of her dumpling restaurant that she opened with Siu Wai's mom.

Mariane's personality begins to change more and more. She gives more than she takes. She visits her grandmother in the nursing home. After she finds out that her father had left the family because her mom left with her ex-boyfriend, she goes to find her dad and her half-siblings and tries to help them. She gives her half-sister money to go to college in the US. And her whole family is reconciled. She even helps Cheung Tat Ming get a promotion. On the other hand, Miu Siu Wai becomes more and more like the ex-Mariane. The turning point in the series was when Siu Wai was driving after she had been drinking and she runs into an old lady who was crossing the street. Instead of stopping to help the old lady, she drove away, fearing that she could no longer be a lawyer. Siu Wai regretted her actions and called for an ambulance and wanted to turn herself in, but in the end, she didn't turn herself in. THe old lady died the next day. Trying to earn more money so that she could help the old lady's grandson who has down's syndrome, Siu Wai goes against her own principles and helps a client whom she knows is guilty. Mariane cautions Siu Wai about her actions but Siu Wai refuses to listens. Siu Wai is becoming more and more ambitious.

Cheung Tat Ming is still in love with Siu Wai and still believes that she's kind. In order to get a cute watch for her, he tries to eat 10 boxes of sushi and ends up in the hospital. Mariane sees that Siu Wai has changed. She tells Siu Wai that Cheung Tat Ming loves her. Siu Wai calls Cheung Tat Ming out and tells him that she doesn't like him. Cheung is really crushed.

After Mariane screws up on getting a client, Siu Wai does all that she can to get the client back and she's successful. However, the CEO of that company wants Mariane to be their company's lawyer and not Siu Wai. This pisses her off and she reveals to Ben's wife that Mariane has heart problems. Soon the whole company finds out about her health. Mariane is told to hand the case back over to Siu Wai. She decides to quit her job. Mariane also breaks off her relationship with Ben after seeing that he is more concerned about her ability to help him than her health.

Mariane has started treating her cousin, Louisa better also. After Louisa is tricked by a man out of her money, Mariane decides to take out her money to help her cousin. The two decide to become roommates.

Mariane finds a new job as a prosecutor for the government. Her relationship with Cheung Tat Ming continues to improve. During one incident, they saw a woman hitting her son on the bus...they got very frustrated and started yelling at the woman for abusing her son. They ended up in the police station where they found out that the woman was only the son's stepmother. Mariane decided to help the kid's biological mother get custody of the kid back and she was successful...this scene was really funny and touching. After this incident, the two always waited for each other to take the bus in the morning.

Meanwhile, Mui Siu Wai becomes Ben Wong's mistriss and she's becoming really cocky. All her co-workers who used to think highly of her, all hate her now. She even treats her uncle very rudely, refusing to lend him money.

Cheung Tat Ming is beginning to feel more and more guilty that he changed Mariane's death date. He finds out from his mentor in heaven, Liu Kai Chee (a god in heaven whom Cheung Tat Ming AKA Michael Tse can still see from time to time) that Mariane will die on the day of the Mooncake Festival. Cheung Tat Ming feels bad and decides to do all that he can in the last months of her life to make her feel happy. Cheung ran into Mariane at the supermarket one time and he saw that she liked a snowglobe. However, the snowglobe could not be purchased. It had to be exchanged for with 100 popcicle sticks...Therefore, Cheung Tat Ming, Yuen Siu Cheurng, and another friend had to eat 100 popcicles that night....this part was soooo funny. Cheung gave Mariane the snowglobe the next day and she really liked it =)

While Mariane and Cheung were looking for a birthday present for Louisa, they came across what's known as a "wishing bottle". When you write something in the bottle and throw it into the ocean, your wish is supposed to come true. Mariane's wish was to see "shooting stars--lau sing yuet". Cheung Tat Ming (who's really Michael Tse) tries to grant her this wish by asking his mentor, Liu Kai Chee, to get the weather God to comply. Therefore, that night, Cheung drags Mariane, Yueng Siu Cheung and a few others for a barbque outside of Yuen's house. However, instead of shooting stars, it starts raining...heehee...Mariane gets annoyed b/c she didn't want to come in the first place. She decides to leave and goes outside. However, Cheung sees firecrackers sitting in Yuen's apartment and decides to put them to use. He rushes to the roof and lights the firecrackers...Mariane was really happy...however, a cop came over and Cheung got arrested for setting off firecrackers illegally heehee...Mariane helped him get off the hook though. After they left the police station, they really did see the shooting stars...

Cheung Tat Ming accompanies Mariane for her checkup... there's a fire in the building and Cheung risks his life to save her. Mariane is very touched. Cheung Tat Ming and Mariane Chan have fallen in love now. He wants to try to save her and asks his mentor to help him. However, his mentor tells him that the task is impossible. Cheung and Mariane are happily together until Mariane's doctor tells her that she doesn't have long to live. Mariane avoids Cheung Tat Ming and tells him that she doesn't love him...however, CHeung understands her true intentions. The two are able to stay together.

CHeung finds out from his mentor that Mariane doesn't die from her heart problems...she dies from another incident ("sei yu fei ming"). His mentor finds out that a person with a wound on his/her hand causes Mariane's death. Cheung sees that his own hand has a scar and is afraid that he will be the one to cause Mariane's death. Therefore, he tries to avoid her.

Meanwhile, Mui Siu Wai is angry with Mariane because she thinks that she lost an award because of Mariane spoke to one of the judges. The real reason why Siu Wai lost was because Ben WOng's wife found out that the two were having an affair and this was just one of her ways of paying back. Later Ben's wife catches them in bed together and while she's trying to leave, she accidentally falls down the stairs and goes into a coma.

Mariane ran into Siu Wai at a restaurant and stopped to talk to her. Mariane tries to urge Siu Wai to "turn back" but Siu Wai refuses. Siu Wai's mom overhears the conversation and is furious at her daugter. She runs out and gets hit by a car. Siu Wai blames Mariane for her mom's incident. Siu Wai tries to seek comfort in Ben but he doesn't give her any..only then does she realize how shallow her relationship with him had been...

Frustrated, Mariane tries to find Cheung Tat Ming so that she has someone to talk her. However, Cheung tells her that he will cause her death and refuses to see her. Mariane tries all that she can to find Cheung and with the help of his dad, she finds out that he's on the beach. She doesn't see him there but he sees her. Mariane is very sad that Cheung won't see her. She decides to leave and almost gets hit by Siu Wai who was driving by. Siu Wai rushes out of the car, thinking that she hit someone and sees Mariane getting up. Siu Wai gives Mariane a hard time because of her mom's accident and she shoves her...we see that Siu Wai's hand has a wound on it! Just then, another car comes by and Mariane gets run over by this other car because Siu Wai pushed her. Chueng rushes up and sees the entire incident and goes over to Mariane...Mariane dies in the hospital later that night. Siu Wai is charged with murder.

Cheung Tat Ming goes to the beach later that night and recalls that Mariane had wanted to go to the beach that night for the Mooncake Festival and throw more of her "wishing bottles" into the ocean. He is surprised when he does see Mariane there, waiting for him with her bottles. They throw all the bottles into the ocean and then Mariane disappears...the audience sees that it was Cheung Tat Ming's mentor Liu Kai Chee, who brought Mariane to see him one last time.

Yuen Siu Chueng and Louisa So are getting married that day and CHeung is the best man. WHile they are taking pictures, Cheung Tat Ming sees Siu Wai...she was recently released from prison and is doing volunteer work. She's still looking for a job. Siu Wai reveals that Ben Wong is now bankrupt. Cheung tells her that he is studying to be a lawyer. Siu Wai seems to have changed back to her previous nice personality.

Cheung is walking in the streets a few days later and sees a street vendor selling "wishing bottles". He stops to look and realizes that the street vendor looks exactly like his mentor in heaven, Liu Kai Chee. Cheung walks further down the street and sees a group of Japanese tourists. He sees someone that looks exactly like Mariane (Chong Yuk Suet) and tries to speak to her but she doesn't understand him and gets on her tourist bus. Meanwhile, he's still standing outside the bus window trying to get her attention. Mariane pulls out a snowglobe from her bag (it looks exactly like the one he gave her a few years ago) and starts shaking it up...she seems to really like it...just then, she has flashbacks of telling Cheung in a supermarket that she likes the snowglobe on display. The bus starts moving and Mariane looks over to Cheung Tat Ming in disbelief...he's still chasing the bus in the last scene...