In the chaotic times of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, people's lives were precarious. Du Xiaoer, a down-and-out tavern clerk, unexpectedly gathers a group of grassroots people in the same difficult situation under the rebel army: the poisonous-tongued girl Sun Cuihua, the fugitive coachman Ma Laosan, the slippery Taoist priest Zhao Banxian, and the determined mother Li Yuxiang. A group of people rose up in troubled times in exile, escape, struggle and support. They face suffering with humor and self-deprecation, resist the boundless darkness with mutual help and warmth, and hold on to the glimmer of humanity when the world is ruthless and the world is turned upside down. From the small towns in the south of the Yangtze River to the battlefields in the north, from the quagmire of refugees to the tragedy of home and country, everyone grows up in the struggle at the bottom and eventually becomes a 'hero' in their own hearts. Fate plays tricks on people, and the stories of grassroots beings are filled with the warmth and hope behind the great history.
