Xiao Fang is a capable, clever, beautiful, and kind country girl who falls in love with a sent-down youth living with her family and gets pregnant before marriage. To protect her family's reputation, she wanders to the city in 1978 and scavenges for rubbish. To hide the fact that she had a child out of wedlock, she marries a barber who has also drifted to the city. She first takes over a scrap warehouse and inadvertently starts a market. After giving birth to the sent-down youth's twins, she has another set of twins with the barber. The barber is executed by firing squad after raping an underage shampoo girl and causing her death. She finds a million in cash and returns it to a wealthy Zhejiang businessman, takes over a steel mill, and finds happiness in marriage. Through the fate of Xiao Fang and her family, the story reflects the changing times and celebrates truth, goodness, and beauty. This is a sweeping, captivating tale that brings together individual lives and the course of an era.
Theme: Reflect the changing times through the fate of one young woman.
