In the twenty-sixth year of the Republic of China, war broke out in a small town in the south of the Yangtze River. The city walls were in ruins and people died of hunger everywhere. Only ruins of the once bustling streets and lanes remain, and the barren tidal flats on the outskirts of the city have become the last thoughts of the survivors. In the troubled times, he took his family, old and weak, to dig up the frozen soil on the edge of the abandoned city, trying to plant food for survival. Exorbitant taxes, ruffians, famine and plague all cast shadows over this barren land. With his rough hands, he searched for life among the gravel, kept the bottom line in desperate situations, watered the seedlings with sweat, and withstood the wind and rain with his muscles and bones. There are no earth-shattering achievements, only the persistence of spring plowing and summer hard work; there is no all-powerful pride, only the obsession to protect the family. Under the setting sun over the deserted city, that acre of land is not only the sustenance of livelihood, but also the spark of hope that refuses to be extinguished in troubled times, reflecting the struggle and resilience of ordinary people to survive in the torrent of the times.
