A poor woodcutter named Yeongdo, who lives alone while longing for a family. And an imugi—a serpent spirit that can only become a dragon by killing its mate. Yeongdo hears a rumor that if you throw an axe into a mountain pond, the mountain spirit will return it to you as a golden axe. Wanting to hold a wedding, he throws his axe into the pond. But what rises from the pond is not a mountain spirit— it’s an imugi, furious after countless humans kept throwing their axes into its waters. The imugi, who was about to kill the human before it, becomes drawn to the scent coming from Yeongdo… and begins to obsess over him.