The Sea's Reply

In the late Qing dynasty, Lin Haisheng, a young man from the Fujian coast, leaves his hometown for the Nanyang to make a living and pay off his family's debts. Starting as a dock laborer, he endures debt, illness, failed business partnerships, and cross-cultural encounters. At last, he is able to support himself, but years later he discovers that his hometown is no longer the place he remembers, and the Nanyang is no longer just somewhere to stay for a while.