Wu Qionghua, a house maid, is abused by a cruel warlord until she joins a troop of women soldiers.

Married couple Fugui and Jiazhen endure tumultuous events in mid-20th century mainland China as their personal fortunes move from wealthy landownership to peasantry.

When Song Wei's fiancee Luo Qun is denounced as a right-wing traitor by Party official Wu Yao, he is sentenced to ten years' hard labor. Song Wei breaks off her engagement, and eventually marries Wu Yao. Years later, after the Cultural Revolution, political currents have shifted; Song Wei demands that her husband, now a powerful Party official, seek Luo Qun's rehabilitation, but Wu Yao has no desire to open up old political and emotional wounds.