In the 1990s, rural teacher Li Chen left his hometown and came to Guancheng, stepping into a leather goods factory to make a living. Amidst the wave of migrant workers, he witnessed the diverse lives of ordinary workers at the bottom, crossed paths with the ill-fated sisters Zou Lianmei and the daring Ma Yuhua, as well as a group of fellow workers struggling for subsistence. While navigating the workplace, Li Chen persistently searched for his first love, witnessing the joys, sorrows, ups, and downs of ordinary people swept away by the torrent of the times.