During the most difficult years of the Anti-Japanese War in 1941, the Japanese invaders and the Kuomintang's forces colluded with each other harassing the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border area. Because of this, people faced many difficulties. A charcoal burning team of Eighth Route Army in Yan'an responded to the call of the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao to "do it yourself, get enough food and clothing". Under the leadership of the captain Zhao Changlong, they rush to the deep mountains and old forests to cut through thorns, camp, and dig kilns to burn charcoal.

A middle aged woman oculist has a heart attack. Recalling her past, she feels sorry for not having been a dutiful wife and mother, but she consoles herself with the thought that she has saved many people from blindness.

Before dying from HIV, a man names three college girls that he had sexual relationships with while working at Southern University. A four-member special investigation team is formed to track them down

Grand warlord Cao Cao consults the physician Hua Tuo about his chronic headaches. Cao Cao intends to take him on as his personal physician but Hua Tao refuses.