Twenty-seven-year-old Zhou Ye, a master's graduate in Chinese medicinal plant resources from an agricultural university, returns to his hometown to search for medicinal plant varieties as part of his professor's research project. After returning home, he discovers that the village's sprawling old pear orchards have become unprofitable due to aging varieties, and local fruit farmers are cutting down their trees to plant fast-growing eucalyptus instead. But Zhou Ye recognizes the orchards' excellent canopy coverage and deep humus-rich soil, making them ideal for cultivating valuable shade-loving medicinal herbs such as Bletilla and Notoginseng. Determined to save the old pear trees, he vows to grow life-saving medicinal herbs beneath them that will be worth ten times more than the pears.