Lin Chuan, the son of a disgraced official, is exiled to Crow Village on the bone-chilling Frozen Bone Plains. After being extorted by his escorts and nearly freezing to death, he is rescued by Song Li and her family. Gifted with the power to awaken life in frozen soil, he breaks through their desperate circumstances by growing crops in the frozen earth. He stands against Tian Laosan, the village bully who monopolizes grain and firewood, and leads the starving villagers to reclaim wasteland, establish communal farmland, and carve out a way to survive. As an old military grain scandal comes to light, long-buried secrets of the Northern Garrison Army and an even deadlier threat begin to emerge.