The author of the novel learned during a chat with the elderly in the village that his ancestors were originally from a landlord family, but his father actually kept all this secret from him. After learning the truth, he made extensive inquiries and learned bits and pieces from his father and other elders in the family, sorting out a history of the rise and fall of the family from the Republic of China to the early days of liberation. The whole article mainly tells the sad story of how several generations of landlord families struggled with their fate in their respective eras and suffered all kinds of hardships to survive.
The whole story is reproduced in flashback, with a small amount of fictional plot added!