The widow Liu Xiuniang rescues a toad with human teeth, and it voluntarily gives her three teeth which turn entirely to gold under the moonlight, saving her son and paying off her debts. But when the price rises to ten taels per tooth, she picks up the tongs that once saved it; knowing full well that forcibly pulled teeth turn white upon returning to the old pond, she pulls them anyway. Her son asks her one final question: In the end, who was it all really for?