Chen Yan, a top scholar from a poor family, dreams of making something of himself. He leaves Qingyuan County to attend Southeast University of Finance and Economics. Gradually corrupted by the city's glitter and cutthroat materialism, he betrays the sincerity of his first love, Lin Xiaowei, and exploits the selfless help of his junior, Lin Wan, transforming into a ruthless financial highflyer. Yet just as he is about to reach the top of his career, an alliance of vested interests betrays him. In a single night, he falls from grace and ends up on the streets.
While homeless, the priceless smiles of a mother and child who sell paintings pierce his frozen heart. Then, during a torrential flood, he is electrocuted and falls into a coma. His spirit transmigrates through the famine of the late Tang dynasty and the Flower and Stone Collection disaster of the Northern Song, experiencing a millennium of human suffering firsthand. A hermit in the mountains saves his life and guides him to face the sins of his past, above all the enormous debt he owes Lin Wan for stealing her intellectual labor.
After waking, Chen Yan lets go of his obsessions and becomes an ascetic in the city. He sleeps in a break room and takes day labor jobs, using his financial expertise to support his community and his knowledge of psychology to help others heal. In the end, he realizes that life isn't about accumulating assets, but settling debts. True freedom means repaying one small light with another, and living a life of depth while moving forward in debt.
