A sudden thunderclap shatters an ancient pagoda tree of a hundred years. The couple Zhou Shouyi and Liu Guizhi find an infant in swaddling clothes within the tree's heart, kindly adopt him, and name him Huaisheng. Huaisheng is born with the ability to sense swimming fish in the water, though he has difficulty speaking since childhood. In his youth, he uses this special ability to rescue Zhou Xiaoman, who has fallen into the water. Local fish market boss He Wanjiang sees Huaisheng's skill and gives rise to greed. For his own selfish interests, he privately drives wooden stakes into the river channel, destroys the waterway, and lays hidden dangers of flooding. Huaisheng is unwilling to be used by others in exchange for money, concentrates on pondering, builds live-water fish tanks, leads the villagers to break the fish price monopoly, and guards everyone's livelihood.