After a century of turmoil, the ancient, profound, and long-suffering land of China finally welcomed the dawn of peace. In Maixiang Village, beside the Yellow River in Shandong, a string of major events and everyday affairs unfolded in step with the fate of the nation. Niu Dadan (played by Chen Baoguo), born into a poor farming family, and Deng'er (played by Niu Li) fell in love, but generations of feuds between their fathers kept them apart. The land reform movement swept in abruptly, and Ma Renli (played by Feng Yuanzheng), born into a landlord family, went overnight from a pampered young master to a public enemy. Qiao Yue, the woman once engaged to him, read the changing winds and put one foot on the revolutionary path.
