This is the story of two women, Seo Jung Eun and Han Yoo Kyung, who walk very different paths to achieve their desires. Seo Jung Eun is a strong and courageous woman who has suffered a difficult life, having grown up in an orphanage, but continues to embrace people around her despite longing for affection herself. Jung Eun harbours the hope that she will meet her mother if she becomes a star, striving to reach her goal and overcome her suffering with her pure and innocent nature. In contrast, Han Yoo Kyung has a birth secret for which she is willing to throw away everything in order to get revenge. The "thorn birds" of the title refers to Jung Eun's character, who only brings out her best at the cost of great pain. A thorn bird is a mythical bird who searches for a thorn tree from the day it is born. When it finds it, the bird impales itself upon the sharpest thorn, and rises above the agony to sing the most beautiful song ever heard.
徐靜恩與韓柔慶從小一起長大，兩人因為一場意外而就此決裂，不相往來。
長大以後，靜恩成為一名正待發光的影壇新人，而柔慶也成為一位極具潛力的電影導演；但是靜恩卻在柔慶的刻意陷害下，從影壇徹底消失。心地善良的靜恩不但沒有報復柔慶，反而細心照顧柔慶的生母明子，同時收養了柔慶的親生女兒涵星，視如己出；也因為靜恩的善良，讓涵星的生父-財閥繼承人，同時是著名電影公司老闆的李英祖愛上了靜恩。
為了追求成功，不惜陷害好友，拋棄親生母親與女兒的柔慶，當她發現她得到了她夢寐以求的名利，卻也同時失去了親情與愛情之後，她再一次地出現在靜恩面前，她立誓要從靜恩那裡奪回屬於自己的一切：媽媽明子，女兒涵星，還有英祖的愛。這一次，老天爺會再次照著柔慶的計劃來走嗎？
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