六月雪

貧女竇娥賣身葬母，為蔡婆所得，遂嫁與其子蔡昌宗為婦。夫妻間濃情義厚，後蔡昌宗上京赴考音訊杳無。此間張驢兒垂涎竇娥美色，聞蔡昌宗赴京應試，買兇加害，幸蔡昌宗得脫大難，惟死訊仍誤傳家中。

蔡昌宗失蹤，竇娥與蔡婆相依為命。張驢兒遂多番上門調戲威迫利誘，但竇娥不為所動。張驢兒欲害蔡婆以佔竇娥，卻陰差陽錯反使其母誤喝下有毒的羊肚湯斃命。張驢兒乘機誣告蔡婆並行賄官府，貪官對蔡婆進行嚴刑逼供。竇娥思及蔡婆年高難抵酷刑，為救婆婆頂罪，最終被判斬刑。行刑之日時正六月，忽然大雪紛飛，眾人為之驚異。適時竇娥夫婿蔡昌宗赴考得中狀元，官拜巡案返鄉。親審此案察明真相，為竇娥洗清冤情並把張驢兒法辦，一家得以團圓。

The Summer Snow

Poor girl Dou Er sells herself in order to afford a proper burial for her mother. Dou is bought by a woman,Cai, who weds her son Changzong to the girl. They become a loving couple. After a time, Changzongtravels to the capital to take the imperial examination but sends no word back to his family. Informed of the situation, Zhang, who has long coveted Dou for her beauty, hires a man to kill Changzong. The attempt fails, but word travels back to Dou and Cai that Changzong is dead.

With Changzong presumed dead, the women have to fend for themselves. Zhang starts paying frequent visits with advances and marriage proposals, but all meet with defiance. Zhang then tries to kill Cai, the mother-in-law, by giving her poisoned soup, but his own mother eats the tainted food by mistake and dies.Zhang accuses Cai of murdering his mother and bribes the magistrate into extorting a confession through torture. Fearing that her mother-in-law will not be able to withstand the prosecution, Dou takes responsibility for the crime instead.

On the day of her execution, in the middle of summer, an amazingly heavy snow descends. Changzong, fresh from winning first place in the imperial examination, returns as inspector general. Noticing the unseasonable snow as an omen of extraordinary injustice, Changzong personally retries the case and exonerates Dou while bringing Zhang to justice. The family is happily reunited.