In his previous life, Shen Changlin worked like an ox and a horse, exhausting the family's savings to put his second younger brother through school until he became a high-ranking official. To help his third younger brother build a new house, his pregnant wife was forced by the family to work in the fields, dying together with their unborn child from exhaustion. His feverish daughter was left untreated because they had no money, leaving her mute, and eventually his third younger brother secretly traded away her betrothal gifts. Shen Changlin worked himself to death, only to discover that his ungrateful relatives cared solely about fighting over the family property. In the end, he was not even given a proper grave. Fortunately, Heaven took pity on him, allowing him to open his eyes again and return to the freezing winter of 1980.