Stairway to Heaven (2003 TV series)

Stairway to Heaven
Promotional poster for Stairway to Heaven L to R: Han Tae-hwa, Han Jung-suh, Cha Song-joo, Han Yoo-ri
Genre	Romance, Melodrama
Written by	Park Hye-kyung
Directed by	Lee Jang-soo
Starring	Choi Ji-woo Kwon Sang-woo Kim Tae-hee Shin Hyun-joon
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language(s)	Korean
No. of episodes	20
Production
Location(s)	South Korea
Running time	Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 (KST)
Release
Original network	Seoul Broadcasting System
Original release	3 December 2003 (2003-12-03) – 5 February 2004 (2004-02-05)
Chronology
Preceded by	Punch
Followed by	Sunlight Pours Down
External links
Website

Stairway to Heaven (Hangul: 천국의 계단; RR: Cheon-guk eui Gyedan) is a 2003 South Korean television series starring Choi Ji-woo, Kwon Sang-woo,Kim Tae-hee, and Shin Hyun-joon. The drama is the second entry in director Lee Jang-soo's Heaven Trilogy which included Beautiful Days in 2001 and Tree of Heaven in 2006. It aired on SBS from 3 December 2003 to 5 February 2004 on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 for 20 episodes. The hit drama received an average viewership rating of 38.8%, and 45.3% for the finale. The title of the show comes from the Led Zeppelin song of the same name, which is frequently used in the underscore.

Han Jung-suh (Park Shin-hye) and Cha Song-joo (Baek Sung-hyun) are childhood friends and have a special bond that blossoms into love. They both share the pain of losing a loved one: Song-joo's father died in a traffic accident and Jung-suh's mother died of eye cancer. Jung-suh's father (Ha Jae-young) marries an actress named Tae Mi-ra (Lee Hui-hyang), who brings her real daughter, Han Yoo-ri (Park Ji-mi), and son, Han Tae-hwa (Lee Wan) into the household. Yoo-ri is jealous of Jung-suh, making her look terrible in front of her mother, who begins to turn on Jung-suh. When Jung-suh's father leaves for work, her stepmother assaults her. She thwarts Jung-suh's attempts to study abroad with Song-joo, who then leaves for America alone. Mi-ra plots for Yoo-ri to win the affections of Song-joo who is the heir of his family fortune. All the while, Jung-suh tries to be nice to Tae-hwa, but he mistakes her friendship for something more, and falls in love with her.

Three years later, Song-joo (Kwon Sang-woo) comes back from America, and Jung-suh (Choi Ji-woo) rushes to greet him. A jealous Yoo-ri (Kim Tae-hee) tries to stop them from reuniting. As they race to the airport, Yoo-ri intentionally hits Jung-suh with her car. Jung-suh is taken to the hospital where a group of people had just died in fire. Yoo-ri swaps Jung-suh's ID with one of the people to fake her death. She takes the real Jung-suh to her biological father's home. Tae-hwa (Shin Hyun-joon), still in love with Jung-suh, finds out what Yoo-ri has done, but seizes the opportunity to run away with Jung-suh. Jung-suh loses her memory, and Tae-hwa moves them away and changes their names.