Chen Shi failed the college entrance exam after getting a fever from rescuing someone in a river.
His childhood sweetheart was sold to the foolish son of a coal-mine owner, and her parents were seized by the owner.
Everyone thought Chen Shi had no choice but to kneel and beg for mercy.
But Chen Shi sneaked into the mine, blew up the tunnel, and rescued his parents and his childhood sweetheart.
After escaping, he jumped aboard a coal train heading south to Guangdong, vowing to make something of himself.
Years later, as Chen Shi and the women who had stood by him looked back on the road they had traveled, they realized that even an ordinary man could carve out a world of his own.
