page.replace_html for entire div not partial?

My sites navigation is within my <%= render 'layouts/header' %>. I want to use ajax so that when a user clicks on a navigation link, only the div id="content" refreshes. div id="content" is not a partial, is there a way to refresh the content of that div without using a partial?

<div id="container">
  <%= render 'layouts/header' %>
  <div id="content">
    <% flash.each do |key, value| %>
      <div class="flash <%= key %>"><%= value %></div>
    <% end %> 
    <%= 开发者_如何学编程yield %>
  </div>
</div>

You can do something like this

$.ajax({
        url: <url of handler>,
        dataType: "html",
        type: "POST",
        success: function (data) {
            if (data === undefined || data === null || data === "") {
                //display warning
            }
            else {
                $(<div selector>).html(data);                    
            }             
        }
    });

For more about jquery ajax refer http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.ajax/