The title Kwanreuthai sounds like a romantic name from the 70s, similar to the other titles of Heart of Dhewaprom: Laorchan, Jaiphisut, Dujupsorn, Poncheewan. However, Kwanreuthai is like music to my ears. Kwanreuthai can also mean a gift, like the word kwan, but our heroine feels the opposite. She believes that her birth only brought misfortune to her mother, Marathee, who has resettled in the northern province of Thailand, Chiang Rai, hiding her noble identity from her daughter and everyone around her. Unbeknownst to Kwanreuthai, she and her stepbrother grew up taking care of their mother after their father passed away and running a food stall/food delivery business to ensure that their mother lived a relatively comfortable life.

In addition to taking care of her mother, Kwanreuthai (Yada Narilya), also known as Thai, is a local leader who assists the police in addressing the prevalent drug issues in the province. The mountainous border near Chiang Rai in the 90s was notorious for drug harvesting. Despite being 19 years old, our heroine carries a heavy burden and acts much older than her age. Therefore, it’s no surprise that she caught the eye of Major Momluang Chatklao Juthathep (Mikey Panitan), our noble hero who recently transferred to Chiang Rai as a military doctor.

Khun Chat is a soldier and a doctor known for his sweet face and gentle demeanor. Despite his good reputation, he faces a challenge when Kwanreuthai spreads a rumor in his new town that he is gay. She claims to have seen him and his colleague taking a steamy shower together. Despite Khun Chat’s request to end the rumors, Kwanreuthai refuses to believe him. Until her lips land unceremoniously on his, and he threatens to tell everyone if she keeps up the charade about him being gay. LOL. Their battle of wits and conflict continues, but underneath all of that friction is a spark, and Khun Chat falls for her first.

He was attracted to her tomboyish nature, but was equally amazed by her transformation when she participated in a beauty pageant. It paralleled his father’s experience as Khun Chai Pat, who was captivated by Krong Kaew’s beauty in a beauty pageant. But all hell broke loose at the beauty pageant when Marathee discovered her daughter doing the most shameless thing in her opinion: parading in front of men and seeing a male doctor. Marathee believes nothing could be worse than those two combined, as her past experience has tarnished her opinion of beauty queens and male doctors in general (more specifically, Krong Kaew and her P’Chai Pat).

Thirty years ago, Marathee had to give up everything she held dear: her status and her love. She ended up becoming Sir Pinij’s mistress and had a daughter out of wedlock. When she lost the court case, Marathee left the city and married a single father. She reminds Kwanreuthai every day how much of a misfortune she is and that she owes her entire life to caring for her. This is why she lost her ish when she saw Kwanreuthai becoming just like her enemies, and she would never approve of her relationship with Khun Chat. When it comes to a choice between her mother or her love interest, Kwanreuthai chooses her mom.

The main conflict of the show revolves around overcoming Mom’s objections and trying to survive in the middle of a drug war. Initially, I wasn’t hooked on the story due to the nature of the drug war plot. I found the beginning light-hearted and the middle too teary, but the ending was beautifully done. As a result, I’m giving this show my second favorite lineup after Dujupsorn. Kwanreuthai and Khun Chat have this adorable, innocent chemistry when they are together. I wished we had more of their screentime and relationship plot, over the many drug plot. Kwanreuthai cries a lot in this show. She lost many people she loved due to drug-related issues, but I felt it was overkill. In contrast, Marathee restrains from teary scenes, and when she does cry, it is impactful. I loved this middle-aged version of Marathee. She is a force to be reckoned with and I think she steals the show with her savageness and all-around fabulousness. However, her character arc was not learning to love her daughter. She has always loved her in her own way, but learning that her actions brought upon her own loneliness. She made the same mistake twice, in being a mistress and pushing people who truly loved her away, so realizing that the only way to grow and be loved in return, is to start with being selfless. I think the entire last episode is my favorite in this show.

I love Khun Chat’s steadfastness. He knows Kwanreuthai would never choose him over her mother, so he is willing to withstand the test of time and do whatever it takes to win over both of them. He is a crafty, good boy. That smile and glasses are just too adorable, and thanks to them, he really doesn’t require too much convincing to be accepted. Really, the Juthathep boys are masters at trying to get a glimpse of their love interest. I mean, he bought a property for Kwanreuthai so he could get in her good graces again. Then he plots to continue hearing from her when she chooses her mom over him to study nursing in the city, and he has to make do with love letters. His patience is on another level. But with quite the age difference, our boy has to step up and make all the sacrifices. There was a funny scene where Marathee finally gave in and was angry because Khun Chat was too honest. She said he could have just come to see Kwanreuthai in the city and not make her daughter suffer (though he was suffering too) because mom would be none the wiser! Ha. She is permitting him to be a little bad.

Even though Khun Chat has to wait until she graduates to marry her, the boy loves to dream of their wedding. Little did he know that he had to wait until story 5 for his actual wedding; the final Juthathep had to find his one true love first. All in all, I am glad I watched this show. It ties up the conflict from their parents’ timeline and resolves the show’s main point on the impact of drugs – no mercy for anyone directly implicated. Additionally, it emphasizes that the elder, whether in a romantic relationship or a motherly relationship, has to set the tone and be the bigger person. This leads up nicely to the next subsequent stories.