In the summer of 1980, Lin Ye, a young man who failed the college entrance examination, finds himself in dire straits when a village bully comes knocking to demand repayment of a debt, leaving him with nowhere to turn. Refusing to accept his fate, he leads his brothers into the mountains to search for gold, earning his first startup capital by collecting wild gastrodia elata. When rivals blockade the roads and cut off his transportation routes, he transforms himself into a tough-as-nails machinist and assembles a tractor from scrap metal to break through their blockade. After securing exclusive distribution rights, he turns the tables on his enemies, brings the village bully under his control, and rises from humble beginnings to become a legendary business tycoon.