In The Atypical Family, Do Da-hae, played by Chun Woo-hee, enters Bok Gwi-ju’s life with the intention of conning his family for money.
When Gwi-ju nearly drowns while trying to retrieve a child’s toy from the sea, Da-hae jumps in and saves his life.
Later, Gwi-ju’s mother, Man-heum, meets Da-hae at the spa she frequents. Da-hae works as a masseuse there and is able to help Man-heum, who suffers from insomnia, sleep better.
Impressed by Da-hae’s skills, Man-heum invites her to her house, unaware that this was Da-hae’s plan all along.
A woman with a tragic past
Da-hae’s mother abandoned her and her father to be with another man. Then, when Da-hae was in school, her father drank too much and froze to death.
She had no one to rely on and had to learn to survive on her own. Additionally, a loan shark named Il-hong came to her father’s funeral to demand repayment of his debts.
Soon after, Da-hae, a victim of bullying, was caught in a school fire. Although she survived, she did not have the money for hospital treatment.
It was Il-hong who came to the hospital and paid for Da-hae’s treatment, but in exchange, Da-hae had to work for her.
Since then, Da-hae has been working for Il-hong, whom she now calls her mother. Il-hong makes Da-hae marry wealthy men, scam them, and then divorce them.
Il-hong exploits Da-hae’s tragic past to scam their targets, even though Da-hae, who is still traumatized by the fire incident, does not like it.
Da-hae does not have much say in choosing their targets, as she is still indebted to Il-hong, who decides to target the Bok family next.
She wants Da-hae to marry Gwi-ju for a 50-billion-won building owned by the Bok family, leading to Da-hae trying to please the Bok family.
The key to restoring the Bok family’s powers
Da-hae wins Man-heum’s heart by helping her sleep. While Man-heum believes that Da-hae’s massages put her to sleep naturally, the truth is that Da-hae has been drugging her.
One day, Man-heum, who can foresee the future in her sleep, has a dream about Da-hae wearing the Bok family’s ring.
This dream leads Man-heum to believe that Da-hae holds the key to regaining the family’s powers. There might be some truth to this belief.
After meeting Da-hae, Gwi-ju once again starts traveling back in time, but he can only revisit moments shared with Da-hae.
In addition to that, Gwi-ju is able to touch Da-hae whenever he goes back in time, which was previously impossible.
Like Gwi-ju, Man-heum regains her powers, but she can only use them when Da-hae is involved. Due to this, Man-heum makes up her mind to get Gwi-ju married to Da-hae.
Just when everything is going according to Il-hong’s plan, Da-hae finds out about the Bok family’s superpowers, which terrifies her.
She pleads with Il-hong to change their target, but Il-hong refuses. Instead, she asks Da-hae to find a way to marry Gwi-ju as soon as possible.
Marrying Gwi-ju and acquiring the building is the only way Da-hae can free herself from Il-hong and the Bok family, but for that, she must first win over Gwi-ju and his daughter I-na.