At the end of the Qing Dynasty, bankrupt fisherman Zhao Yuan and retired sentry commander Lin Tiesheng lived on a deserted island in the South China Sea, surrounded only by a group of refugees who were also desperate. Without a court and no escape route, they must establish their own rules. Zhao Yuan used pragmatic methods to organize reclamation and formulate laws, while Lin Tiesheng trained militiamen to resist pirates and colonists. The pedantic scholar Su Mingli brought classics, the indigenous female doctor Aisha revealed the island's resources, the old craftsman Wang Laoshuan was stubborn in old customs, and the comprador Ma Liu wavered between interests and loyalty. Starting from a handful of salt and a bag of rice, this group of overseas refugees will build a new country belonging to the Chinese in a land without owners.
