In a small county town in the 1990s, Shen Guizhi has been married for eight years, spending every day looking after the entire household and painstakingly saving money with her treadle sewing machine. But when her husband's family prepares for her younger brother-in-law's wedding, they decide to take over the room she lives in without asking her, while her husband secretly spends their joint savings and repeatedly disregards her and their daughter's situation. Heartbroken and disillusioned, Shen Guizhi decides to end this unhappy marriage and uses her own savings to buy an old courtyard house in East Alley. After leaving her former family, she makes a living with her excellent tailoring skills. Overcoming one obstacle after another, she protects her daughter and works stitch by stitch to build a truly peaceful and warm home of their own.