From Ae-sun's first kiss to Gwan-sik’s death: When Life Gives You Tangerines complete timeline explored

When Life Gives You Tangerines, the acclaimed South Korean drama series, intricately weaves the lives of Ae-sun and Gwan-sik, capturing their journey from innocent first love to the poignant depths of life's challenges.

In the early 1960s, young Ae-sun, portrayed by Kim Tae-yeon, grows up under the care of her mother, Jeon Gwang-rye (Yum Hye-ran), a dedicated haenyeo—one of Jeju's famed female divers. Amidst the island's natural beauty, Ae-sun forms a close bond with Gwan-sik (Lee Cheon-mu), the son of a local fishmonger.

Their childhood friendship is marked by shared adventures along the rocky shores and bustling markets of Jeju. Tragedy strikes when Ae-sun's mother passes away, leading Ae-sun and her siblings to find refuge with her uncle's family.

This period of shared grief and support deepens the connection between Ae-sun and Gwan-sik, laying the foundation for their evolving relationship in When Life Gives You Tangerines.

The youthful Ae-sun and Gwan-sik are portrayed by IU and Park Bo-gum, respectively. While their middle-aged and older selves are enacted by renowned actors Moon So-ri and Park Hae-joon.

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When Life Gives You Tangerines: Exploration of human relationships, personal growth, and enduring love

As the narrative progresses in When Life Gives You Tangerines into the late 1960s, teenage Ae-sun (IU) and Gwan-sik (Park Bo-gum) navigate the complexities of adolescence. Working side by side in the local market—Ae-sun selling cabbages and Gwan-sik managing the fish stall—their camaraderie blossoms into a tender romance.

A pivotal moment unfolds in When Life Gives You Tangerines when Ae-sun (IU), emboldened by her aspirations of becoming a poet, shares her first kiss with Gwan-sik (Park Bo-gum) under the yellow canola flower field.

The 1970s ushered in a series of challenges for the couple. Ae-sun's unwavering ambition to pursue higher education and poetry often clashes with the socio-economic realities of their rural existence.

By the 1990s in When Life Gives You Tangerines, Ae-sun (Moon So-ri) and Gwan-sik (Park Hae-joon) confront the complexities of middle age. Their children, now grown, embark on their own paths, leaving the couple to rediscover their individual identities and collective purpose.

As When Life Gives You Tangerines approaches its conclusion in the early 2000s, the narrative poignantly depicts Gwan-sik's declining health and eventual passing. His death serves as a heartrending culmination of their shared journey and enduring love.

Ae-sun, now in her seventies, reflects on their life together, finding solace in memories and the profound impact of their bond. The series closes with Ae-sun imparting wisdom to her grandchildren amidst the tangerine groves, symbolizing the cyclical nature of life and the enduring resonance of love and resilience.

Here is the full timeline of Ae-sun and Gwan-sik's journeys together as seen in When Life Gives You Tangerines:

• December 8, 1908 — Birth of Ae-sun's grandmother in When Life Gives You Tangerines.
• January 7, 1939 — Birth of Bu Sang-gil.
• May 28, 1949 — Birth of Park Yeong-ran.
• 1950 — Birth of Yang Gwan-sik.
• May 16, 1951 — Birth of Oh Ae-sun.
• October 1958 — Ae-sun's grandmother helped in pulling her and Gwan-sik's baby-tooth.
• March 1960 — Gwang-rye read Ae-sun's abalone poem and brought her home.
• September 20, 1960 — Ae-sun wrote a poem about Lee Man-gi, who became class president through bribery.
• July 1961 — Gwang-rye passed away at 29 from divers' disease (common among haenyeo) in When Life Gives You Tangerines.
• March 1967 —Ae-sun ran away as Gwansik's grandmother chased her in the market.
• March 1967 — Ae-sun and Gwan-sik's first kiss in the yellow canola flower field.
• March 1967 — Ae-sun and Gwan-sik participated in the poem contest where she wrote a poem on him titled "My First Love (M.F.L)".
• December 1967 — Ae-sun's uncle forced her to work at a factory, but she didn't. Gwan-sik also memorized Ae-sun's favorite poem, Nostalgia.
• February 15, 1968 — Ae-sun and Gwan-sik eloped to Busan via a ship. Gwan-sik pawned his family's gold rings to make a wedding ring for Ae-sun and to propose to her.
• February 16, 1968 — Ae-sun and Gwan-sik get robbed by the motel owners. They warn another female guest at the motel of the potential theft. Gwan-sik's mother travels to Busan and locates them. She gets their belongings from the motel owner and gets the owner's wife arrested by the police in When Life Gives You Tangerines.
• February 16, 1968 — The female motel guest bought Ae-sun and Gwan-sik tofu to express her gratitude as they saved her.
• March 12, 1968 — Ae-sun was expelled from school after she returned from Busan. Gwan-sik got suspended from school for a week.
• March 1968 — Ae-sun was set on a blind date with Bu Sang-gil by her aunt and uncle. They pressured her to marry him and raise her two kids. Ae-sun told Gwan-sik to go to Seoul and live and forget her. After realizing she loves him, she ran to the shore and called his name. Gwan-sik jumped off the ship and swam back to Ae-sun in When Life Gives You Tangerines episode 3.
• November 14, 1968 — Birth of Ae-sun and Gwan-sik's daughter, Yang Geum-myeong.
• May 4, 1969 — Gwan-sik, Ae-sun, and Geum-myeong take their first family photo.
• June 13, 1969 — Gwan-sik and Ae-sun talked about sacrificing their dreams willingly for Geum-myeong.
• May 1971 — Geum-myeong tasted her first spicy food (kimchi) through Gwan-sik's hand.
• September 30, 1971 — Ae-sun got her certified high school degree after long due.
• August 1972 — Ae-sun's stepfather's second wife, Minok, secretly paid three months' rent for Ae-sun and Gwan-sik's house before leaving Jeju Island.
• July 1973 — Ae-sun got money from her grandmother after Gwan-sik lost his job unfairly, and they were almost starving to death.
• August 15, 1973 — Gwan-sik bought his first fishing boat with Ae-sun's grandmother's money. Their second son, Eun-myeong, was born the same day.
• August 1974 — Gwan-sik bought Gwang-rye's old house after a successful fishing year and gifted the house to Ae-sun.
• June 9, 1974 — Ae-sun and Gwan-sik's third son, Dong-myeong, was born in When Life Gives You Tangerines episode 6.
• January 1975 — Geum-myeong started school in 1st grade.
• January 1976 — Geum-myeong's first running competition.
• July 6, 1978 — Ae-sun became deputy chief of the fishermen's association.
• July 1978 — Bu Sang-gil's wife, Yeong-ran, went dancing with her little daughter. Ae-sun helped her get away.
• August 18, 1978 — Dong-myeong passed away after a typhoon hit Jeju Island.
• November 20, 1986 — Geum-myeong taking CSAT.
• January 21, 1987 — Geum-myeong got admitted to Seoul National University.
• March 2, 1987 — Geum-myeong started attending college and met Yeong-bum for the first time on their admission day.
• August 1987 — Gwan-sik saved a celebrity named Jung Min after she tried to jump off a boat and take her own life.
• October 1987 — Ae-sun became the chief of the fishermen's association and the first female village chief in the history of Jeju.
• October 1987 — Jung Min asked how she could repay Gwan-sik as she visited him for the second time in Jeju.
• October 31, 1987 — Eun-myeong stole SYEM letters from teachers' cars and gave the letter "S" to his sister (symbolizing Seoul Uni) and YEM to Sang-gil and Yeong-ran's daughter, Hyun-sook, as they were the initials to his name, Yang Eun-myeong.
• December 16, 1987 — Geum-myeong declined to take the exam as a proxy for Jenny, whom she illegally tutored, as the South Korean government had banned tutoring in the 80s to encourage fair studying practice. Jenny's mother gets Geum-myeong arrested on false accusations. The woman whom Ae-sun and Gwan-sik helped in Busan from getting robbed by the motel owner saved Geum-myeong after forcing Jenny's mother to take back her false complaint.
• March 1988 — Ae-sun was selling mud snails at the poem contest outside Dodong-ri Girl's High School.
• March 27, 1988 — Ae-sun and her three haenyeo aunties in When Life Gives You Tangerines bought the café and turned it into a restaurant.
• September 1988 — Ae-sun sold their house for Geum-myeong to attend an exchange program in Japan. She backed out of the restaurant partnership and let the three aunties completely own and run the place.
• December 20, 1988 — Ae-sun mailed their photo in front of the restaurant to Geum-myeong in Japan. She started street vending again and shifted her small hawker store in front of the restaurant.
• January 10, 1990 — Geum-myeong came back to Korea and rented a room. She met Park Chung-seob for the first time there.
• December 25, 1990 — Geum-myeong worked at the cinema, and Yeong-bum came to see her.
• October 1990 — Geum-myeong helped Chung-seob's mom watch a movie at the theater every time there would be a new film.
• January 1991 — Chung-seob and Geum-myeong had noodles together in When Life Gives You Tangerines episode 11.
• January 1991 — Eun-myeong and Hyun-sook got caught trying to elope in When Life Gives You Tangerines episode 9.
• December 1991 — Geum-myeong nearly died from a gas leak, but Ae-sun's timely arrival saved her. Chung-seob was also present there and carried Geum-myeong on his back and ran to the ambulance.
• December 1991 — Ae-sun wrote down rheumatoid arthritis as family medical history.
• March 1993 — Ae-sun watched the Jeju canola flower festival on TV featuring Chloe finding her missing gold ring.
• August 1993 — Geum-myeong and Chung-seob walked home together.
• November 1993 — Eun-myeong and Chung-seob enlisted in the military to fulfill their mandatory service.
• December 1993 — Jung Min asked how she could repay Gwan-sik after she visited him for the third time since October 1987.
• December 1993 — Chung-seob said Geum-myeong is like a Christmas tree after they met for the last time before he enlisted.
• January 1994 — Ae-sun and Gwan-sik visited Geum-myeong's semi-basement room. Geum-myeong gifted Ae-sun a pair of floral print shoes.
• February 14, 1994 — Geum-myeong and Yeong-bum spent Valentine's Day together.
• February 1994 — Gwan-sik and Ae-sun met Yeong-bum's parents in Seoul to talk about their children's wedding.
• July 8, 1994 — Geum-myeong called off the wedding in When Life Gives You Tangerines episode 11 due to Yeong-bum's mother's constant disapproval of her and her parents being poor.
• January 1995 — Geum-myeong went back to Jeju to heal from the breakup in When Life Gives You Tangerines.
• December 20, 1995 — Ae-sun's grandmother passed away.
• January 31, 1996 — Eun-myeong was discharged from the military, and he returned home with a pregnant Hyun-sook. They were married after that in When Life Gives You Tangerines.
• January 31, 1996 — Geum-myeong started working at Daewoo. Chung-seob was discharged from the military and saw her boarding the same bus that he got off. Chung-seob ran after Geummyeong's bus but couldn't meet her.
• July 15, 1996 — Birth of Yang Jae-il, aka Pil-gu (Eun-myeong's son).
• July 1997 — Eun-myeong wanted to start a pawn shop with his scammer friend, Cheol-yong.
• August 25, 1997 — Geum-myeong got laid off.
• November 21, 1997 — Geum-myeong and Chung-seob went to the cinema theater where they used to work together years ago. Chung-seob runs after the bus she boarded. This time he ran for a long time, finally being able to stop the bus and board it. He waited for Geum-myeong to wake up and get off the bus. They went for dinner right then and started dating.
• December 10, 1997 — Geum-myeong brought Chung-seob to Jeju to introduce him to her parents.
• August 1998 — Geum-myeong got married to Park Chung-seob.
• August 1998 — Sang-gil bribed a police officer to catch Park Cheol-yong to clear his son-in-law, Eun-myeong's name.
• September 1998 — Gwan-sik sold his boat to bail out Eun-myeong from jail.
• December 1998 — Ae-sun started selling squid at the fish market, and Eun-myeong started selling rice cake and buckwheat jelly at night.
• February 1999 — Gwan-sik and Sang-gil paid their neighbors to buy from Eun-myeong.
• February 1999 — Eun-myeong started working in an ice factory where he got hired due to Gwan-sik's goodwill.
• September 2000 — Eun-myeong got frostbite. Geum-myeong borrowed money for her family while she was pregnant (similar to Ae-sun back then).
• December 14, 2000 — Gwan-sik sold the cabbage plot and opened a restaurant with their house as collateral. He named it "Geumeundong," just like his boat.
• August 23, 2001 — Birth of Park Sae-bom (Geum-myeong's daughter).
• June 14, 2002 — The restaurant's delivery business took off. Geum-myeong founded her business, Ever Study.
• December 2002 — Jeju started the tax-free policy.
• January 12, 2004 — Eun-myeong's name was cleared as they caught Park Cheol-yong. Jung Min came to the restaurant to finally repay Gwan-sik and promote his restaurant.
• April 3, 2004 — Bu Jung-sook (Sang-gil's second daughter) got married. Hyun-sook told Yeong-ran that Sang-gil was the one who found Cheol-yong and got him arrested to help clear Eun-myeong's name.
• September 6, 2004 — Gwan-sik and Ae-sun went to visit Dong-myeong's grave on his birthday together in When Life Gives You Tangerines episode 16.
• August 2005 — Gwan-sik and Ae-sun got a health checkup done in Seoul. Geum-myeong forcefully made them go for it and paid for it too.
• August 2005 — Gwan-sik and Ae-sun were called to the Seoul hospital again post their checkup. Gwan-sik was diagnosed with blood cancer in When Life Gives You Tangerines episode 16.
• March 10, 2006 — Gwan-sik's got his 24th chemotherapy in When Life Gives You Tangerines episode 16. He asked Geum-myeong to stay with him at the hospital and let Ae-sun go home and rest. The whole night, the father and daughter talked about how Gwan-sik met Ae-sun, their Busan runaway story, and more.
• June 9, 2006 — Ae-sun's poem is published in a local Jeju magazine after Gwan-sik submits it. He goes out of his house and proudly reads the published poem, extremely happy to see Ae-sun's poem getting published before his death.
• November 16, 2006 — Gwan-sik passed away at the Seoul hospital after he was admitted in an emergency in When Life Gives You Tangerines episode 16.
• February 24, 2024 — Ae-sun is 73 now and is currently a teacher at an elderly home. Geum-myeong bought back Ae-sun's old Jeju house, which they had sold to finance Geum-myeong's Japan studies. Ae-sun lives in that house. Eun-myeong surprises Ae-sun with a box full of her newly published book. Chloe, who looks exactly like Ae-sun's mother, published Ae-sun's poem collection nationwide.

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When Life Gives You Tangerines is streaming on Netflix and also features special cameos by stars like Kim Seon-ho (The Childe), Lee Jun-young (Melo Movie), and Kim Jae-young (The Judge From Hell).