Ling Yan, a widowed cook factory worker, married into the Shao family of the Red Flag Brigade with her meager savings to raise money for medicine for her seriously ill mother. She became the stepmother of the widowed man Shao Zhenshan, taking over her two stepsons (15-year-old Shao Lei and 12-year-old Shao Feng) who were hostile to her and a tricky mother-in-law.
On the day after the wedding, her mother-in-law and her eldest brother-in-law, Shao Guilan, came to grab food stamps and falsely accused Ling Yan of "hiding something private." Ling Yan dug out her husband's account books on the spot and exposed the two people's conspiracy to embezzle Shao Zhenshan's subsidies for many years, leaving them speechless.
Her stepson Shao Lei was instigated to deliberately smash her medicine jar. Ling Yan did not hit or scold her, but took the broken medicine jar to the brigade branch secretary and detailed the partial and harsh treatment of the Shao family, forcing her mother-in-law to apologize in public and pay compensation.
Faced with the rumors spread by Shao Guilan that "the stepmother is destroying the family", Ling Yan used her cooking skills to work as a cook in the brigade canteen, earned a reputation for her good food, and helped Shao Feng secure a place in school, gradually winning over her stepson's heart.
