以一时、一日、一岁、一生的流转为线索，以棋局对弈为比喻，少不更事的小徒弟经过人生亲历，最终领悟见山是山的人生本意。

1944年，日寇逼近桂林。青年医生董霖乘坐的救护车被敌机炸毁，只得随同难民往山中撤退，从此与妻儿分离。途中董霖遇到一突发心脏病的少女张燕鸿，出于医生本能董霖上前相助，并在山中找到一处茅屋。屋中住着一个老婆婆及其孙儿，老婆婆待二人就像在轰炸中死去的儿子儿媳一样，二人也因患难与共而相惜相爱。不久传来日本投降的消息，董霖决定回去寻找妻儿，并保证半年后便来迎娶燕鸿。董霖总算与妻儿又聚到了一起，却因为工...

80年代，少年白锦程因剧团间的激烈竞争，对好友做出了让自己内心不安的选择。多年后，上一代遗留的恩怨，彻底毁掉了白锦程儿子白子浩原本幸福的生活。白子浩决心向父辈讨个公道。为了避免儿子误入歧途，白锦程决定直面真实的自己。

台湾南部某小镇陈姓孀妇，薄具资产，育有三女。长女秀兰性格内向，在家经营小裁缝店；次女秀珍从事理发业，与邻村青年林子文相恋；三女秀 玲是台北的一名歌星，结识华侨何志 刚，已论及婚嫁。陈母囿于旧观念， 要求三婿中必须有一人入赘，以继承 香火。这时，适逢当局施行新社区计划，需拆除裁缝店的一部分，陈母不 允。秀兰结识执行新社区计划的工程师李达新，两人情爱日增，陈母颇为不快。何志刚双亲催逼，秀玲匆促公证结婚，却被陈母逐出家门。陈母暂 居另一新社区时，方知新社区发展之必要，对工程师的误会日渐消解。除夕夜，秀玲在电视上以歌声传达思母 之情，又偕志刚再度回家请罪，方获谅解。三个女儿终于相继结婚，轮流奉养老母，承欢膝下，母亲见女婿各有所成，遂扭转了招赘的观念。

台湾南部某小镇陈姓孀妇，薄具资产，育有三女。长女秀兰性格内向，在家经营小裁缝店；次女秀珍从事理发业，与邻村青年林子文相恋；三女秀 玲是台北的一名歌星，结识华侨何志 刚，已论及婚嫁。陈母囿于旧观念， 要求三婿中必须有一人入赘，以继承 香火。这时，适逢当局施行新社区计划，需拆除裁缝店的一部分，陈母不 允。秀兰结识执行新社区计划的工程师李达新，两人情爱日增，陈母颇为不快。何志刚双亲催逼，秀玲匆促公证结婚，却被陈母逐出家门。陈母暂 居另一新社区时，方知新社区发展之必要，对工程师的误会日渐消解。除夕夜，秀玲在电视上以歌声传达思母 之情，又偕志刚再度回家请罪，方获谅解。三个女儿终于相继结婚，轮流奉养老母，承欢膝下，母亲见女婿各有所成，遂扭转了招赘的观念。

我带着DV摄影机，在春节期间从北京回到我的故乡巫山，在节日的十多天里，我的镜头对着我的朋友和我的家人，拍下了每天在他们身上所发生的事情。 　　巫山是长江边的一个老县城，已经被撤除成为一片废墟，它即将被长江涨上来的水淹没，因为三峡大坝第一期工程已经完工，准备蓄水发电。 　　巫山新县城刚刚修建起来，县城的人们，我的家人和我的朋友，正在度过他 　　们在这里的第一个春节。 　　新的巫山县城有了出租车，而老县城的废墟上一个男人正在卖一堆从废墟里找出来的门板； 　　我和我巫山的朋友见面，在新县城的街道上乱逛，为的是找到能够娱乐的场所； 　　我朋友的女朋友跟一个男人打架被抓进了看守所，我们想办法看是否能够进看守所去看她； 　　在一个我和朋友经常聚会的咖啡店，三个陌生女孩的闯入，使我们暂时忘记了那个节日期间还蹲在看守所的女人——我朋友的女朋友； 　　我的父亲大病初愈，但他坚持要带我走过长长的新城街道去我姐姐家赴宴，为的是亲自给我介绍新城的建筑； 　　我六岁的侄儿耳朵旁长了一个奇怪的包，可他仍然一刻也闲不住； 　　那三个咖啡店认识的女孩带我们去她们住的地方过夜，我的一个朋友跟其中被认为最出色的女孩有了一夜风流； 　　除夕夜晚，巫山最大的官员县委书记亲自点燃了焰火，开始庆祝巫山全城盛大的乔迁之喜； 　　我的朋友还没有找到门路去探视他在看守所里的女朋友，只能在咖啡店里给我们谈论他女朋友是如何的“性感”，他和她在一起的时候又是怎样的美好； 　　父亲的坏脾气影响着家人过春节的气氛，但他却有个好心情来谈他以后过世要用的棺材； 　　我们终于去看守所见到了那个传说中性格暴躁的我朋友的女朋友…… 　　巫山有上千年的历史，然而在2003年的春节，巫山人在新县城开始了他们新的历史的元年…… 　　2003年10月 章明

The novel focuses on Maurice Bendrix, a rising writer during the Second World War in London, and Sarah Miles, the wife of an impotent civil servant. Bendrix is based on Greene himself, and he reflects often on the act of writing a novel. Sarah is based on Greene's lover at the time, Catherine Walston, to whom the book is dedicated. 　　Bendrix and Sarah fall in love quickly, but he soon realises that the affair will end as quickly as it began. The relationship suffers from his overt and admitted jealousy. He is frustrated by her refusal to divorce Henry, her amiable but boring husband. When a bomb blasts Bendrix's flat as he is with Sarah, he is nearly killed. After this, Sarah breaks off the affair with no apparent explanation. 　　Later, Bendrix is still wracked with jealousy when he sees Henry crossing the Common that separates their flats. Henry has finally started to suspect something, and Bendrix decides to go to a private detective to discover Sarah's new lover. Through her diary, he learns that, when she thought he was dead after the bombing, she made a promise to God not to see Bendrix again if He allowed him to live again. Greene describes Sarah's struggles. After her sudden death from a lung infection brought to a climax by walking on the Common in the rain, several miraculous events occur, advocating for some kind of meaningfulness to Sarah's faith. By the last page of the novel, Bendrix may have come to believe in a God as well, though not to love Him. 　　The End of the Affair is the fourth and last of Greene's explicitly Catholic novels.

The novel focuses on Maurice Bendrix, a rising writer during the Second World War in London, and Sarah Miles, the wife of an impotent civil servant. Bendrix is based on Greene himself, and he reflects often on the act of writing a novel. Sarah is based on Greene's lover at the time, Catherine Walston, to whom the book is dedicated. 　　Bendrix and Sarah fall in love quickly, but he soon realises that the affair will end as quickly as it began. The relationship suffers from his overt and admitted jealousy. He is frustrated by her refusal to divorce Henry, her amiable but boring husband. When a bomb blasts Bendrix's flat as he is with Sarah, he is nearly killed. After this, Sarah breaks off the affair with no apparent explanation. 　　Later, Bendrix is still wracked with jealousy when he sees Henry crossing the Common that separates their flats. Henry has finally started to suspect something, and Bendrix decides to go to a private detective to discover Sarah's new lover. Through her diary, he learns that, when she thought he was dead after the bombing, she made a promise to God not to see Bendrix again if He allowed him to live again. Greene describes Sarah's struggles. After her sudden death from a lung infection brought to a climax by walking on the Common in the rain, several miraculous events occur, advocating for some kind of meaningfulness to Sarah's faith. By the last page of the novel, Bendrix may have come to believe in a God as well, though not to love Him. 　　The End of the Affair is the fourth and last of Greene's explicitly Catholic novels.