The first part describes that Sun Shaoping, the son of a farmer, went to the former Xixian High School at the beginning of 1975. He is poor, but he has self-esteem. Both study and work are good, and Hao Hongmei, who comes from a landlord family, loves each other. Later, it was discovered and publicly revealed that they could not continue to maintain a loving relationship. Later, Hao Hongmei fell in love with Gu, a well-off family, and graduated from high school and went back to her hometown to have children. But he was not depressed. He established friendship with Tian Xiaoxia, the daughter of Tian Fujun, deputy director of the County Revolutionary Committee, and cared about the outside world with the help of Xiao Xia. Shao Ping's brother Shao An has been working at home. He and Runye, the daughter of the village party secretary Tian, were childhood friends, but Tian opposed him. After a painful ordeal, Shao An went to Shanxi to have a blind date with hardworking and kind Xiulian and got married, and Runye had to get married with tears. At this time, rural life was chaotic, and drought added fuel to the fire. In order to strengthen his prestige, Tian organization stole the river dam and the water in the upper reaches, and only lost his life. In order to "learn from Dazhai", he was overjoyed, moving and angry. The channel of life has reached the point where it must be changed.

The second part,1After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in the spring of 979, everything was in ruins and full of contradictions. Tian held a branch meeting overnight to resist the responsibility system, but led the production team to take the lead in implementing it, and then promoted the responsibility system in the whole village. Shao An, who has a flexible mind, went to the city to pull bricks and used the money he earned to build a kiln to burn bricks, which became the "pioneer" of the commune. Shao Ping's dream and pursuit of youth also inspired him to "travel around the world" outside. He changed from a wandering handyman to a formal construction worker, and finally got a good chance to be a coal miner. His girlfriend, Xiao Xia, went to the provincial newspaper as a reporter after graduating from normal college, and they met again two years later. Runye stayed away from her unloved husband and went to work in the Youth League Committee, which led to her infatuated husband's disability after drinking and driving. Runye felt guilty, returned to her husband and began to live a happy life. Her brother Runsheng has grown up. He met Hao Hongmei, whose fate was bumpy in a foreign land, and finally they got married. The strongman Tian, who once dominated the fate of the village, not only resisted the changes in the new era, but also worried about the marriage of his daughter and son and was troubled by illness.

In the third part, Sun Shaoping went to the coal mine of 1982 and tried to be an excellent worker. Shao 'an's brick kilns have also made great progress. He decided to borrow money to expand the machine to make bricks. Unexpectedly, brick kilns suffered a lot because technicians didn't understand technology at all. Later, with the help of friends and county magistrate, he rose again. But it never rains but it pours. Shao An's wife Xiulian was diagnosed with lung cancer when she vomited blood while celebrating the expansion of her primary school with a capital of 20,000 yuan. In the interview of flood fighting, Xiao Xia made a glorious sacrifice to save the victims. Runye also lived happily and gave birth to a fat son. The marriage between Run Sheng and Hao Hongmei was finally recognized by their parents, and a lovely daughter was added. Shao Ping was also seriously injured in an accident, to save his apprentice. But they were not crushed by misfortune. Shao Ping came out of the hospital and returned to the mine with confidence. What kind of life will he meet? ……