Dear Heaven

Dear Heaven is a South Korean television series starring Yoon Jung-hee, Lee Tae-gon, Cho Yeon-woo, Lee Soo-kyung, and Wang Bit-na. It aired on SBS TV from September 10, 2005, to July 2, 2006, on Saturdays and Sundays at 20:45 for 85 episodes.

According to AGB Nielsen Media Research, it was the 5th highest rated TV program in Korea for the year 2006, with an average rating of 28.3%, and a peak rating of 44.5%.

The popular soap opera invited both criticism and high ratings for its provocative plot. The story revolved around a middle-aged woman who introduces her handsome news anchor stepson to her abandoned daughter, who had led a miserable life because of a cruel stepmother. It triggered controversy when the woman was revealed as the girl's biological mother. Viewers were divided on whether it was "immoral" and "incestuous" or a fresh take on relationship dramas, but director Lee Young-hee insisted that the show's theme was "deep maternal love, with a mother reclaiming her own daughter as a daughter-in-law in order to atone for having abandoned her as a baby."

Plot
When she was very young, Ji Young-sun (Han Hye-sook) gave away her baby Lee Ja-kyung after giving birth to her. She later remarries and creates a new family, but soon after, her husband dies, leaving her behind with her stepson Gu Wang-mo (Lee Tae-gon), and her daughter Gu Seul-ah (Lee Soo-kyung).

Now grown and a makeup artist, Lee Ja-kyung (Yoon Jung-hee) finds herself adrift with loneliness since her foster parents died when she was a child. She fell in love with her step-uncle but his family shuns her, dashing away any hopes of being with him. Deciding to focus on her career and find a new love, she meets Wang-mo, a TV news anchor.

Young-sun has been searching for the daughter whom she had abandoned in her youth. As if guided by the hand of fate, she discovers that Ja-kyung is already going out with Young-sun's own stepson, Wang-mo. In order to keep her secret daughter by her side, Young-sun does everything in her power to marry Ja-kyung to Wang-mo, and eventually succeeds. The two women form a curious double relationship, as at once mother/daughter and mother-in-law/daughter-in-law.

Cast

 * Yoon Jung-hee as Lee Ja-kyung
 * Lee Tae-gon as Gu Wang-mo


 * Gu family
 * Han Hye-sook as Ji Young-sun
 * Lee Soo-kyung as Gu Seul-ah
 * Jung Hye-sun as Hwang Maria (paternal grandmother)


 * Kang family
 * Wang Bit-na as Kang Ye-ri (TV news anchor)
 * Kang Ji-sub as Kang Yi-ri (brother)
 * Hyun Suk as Kang Dong-choon (father)
 * Lee Bo-hee as Kim Mi-hyang (mother)
 * Park Hae-mi as Kim Bae-deuk (aunt, Mi-hyang's sister)


 * Lee family
 * Im Chae-moo as Lee Hong-pa (Young-sun's first love)
 * Ban Hyo-jung as Mo Ran-shil (Hong-pa's mother)
 * Kim Young-ran as Bong Eun-ji (Hong-pa's wife)


 * Extended cast
 * Cho Yeon-woo as Kim Cheong-ha (movie star)
 * Geum Dan-bi as Mun-ok (Ja-kyung's friend)
 * Lee Sook as Bae-deuk's friend
 * Lee Dae-ro as Bae-deuk's dancing partner

Awards
2005 SBS Drama Awards
 * New Star Award: Cho Yeon-woo
 * New Star Award: Lee Tae-gon
 * New Star Award: Yoon Jung-hee

2006 SBS Drama Awards
 * Grand Prize (Daesang): Han Hye-sook
 * Top 10 Stars: Han Hye-sook