In the 1970s, Jiangzhou, a small fifth-tier city encircled by a great river, trapped countless ordinary people for their entire lives.
Xue Wan, born into a working-class family, was born with grand ambitions and refused to be confined to the mundane bustle of her small town. With nothing but her own determination, she buried herself in her studies, set on breaking free of the town's fate and heading for a wider world.
After earning top marks in the entrance exams, she enrolled in a foreign languages college. She entered the wider world as a foreign affairs translator, then seized the opportunity to plunge into business.
There was no smooth road ahead. She weathered repeated rises and falls, was plotted against, cheated, and swindled. Her love life was even more difficult, and her four marriages were filled with sorrow and hardship.
Yet resilience was in her bones. Whenever she fell, she got back up, and even in the direst circumstances, she found a way through.
After a lifetime of struggle and hardship, she finally established herself in business and built a fortune. In her later years, she was surrounded by children and grandchildren and found a loving companion.
One city, Jiangzhou, witnessed half a century of upheaval and the legendary life of an ordinary woman who crossed the years and blossomed against the odds.
