The struggling fisherman Chen Hai catches a severely injured, pregnant mermaid. The mermaid gifts him golden scales to help him pay off his debts, but Chen Hai's greed takes over. He breaks his promise and repeatedly strips the mermaid of her golden scales to exchange them for money and official positions. This plunder brings about karmic fire that wreaks havoc on the region, landing Chen Hai and his wife in prison. A Gan, with his disabled leg, happens upon the dying mermaid, exhausts all his efforts to save her child, and overcomes numerous trials to return the little mermaid to the deep sea, calming the tsunami. Chen Hai and Xiuyun repent during their hard labor, return home after serving their sentence, and spend their lives doing good deeds to repay the sins they committed in the past.