In 1998, during the restructuring of the Red Star Light Textile Group, main factory maintenance worker Gu Ping faced a life choice. His older brother Gu Qiang, in order to seize a room for marriage and get his brother-in-law into the factory, forced him to sign a buyout application and even tried to send away his younger sister Gu Xiaoqin. Discovering that Gu Qiang was secretly selling factory scrap iron and embezzling their adoptive father Zhou Dacheng's medical expenses, Gu Ping resolutely refused the buyout. He chose to be dispatched to the third branch factory, embarking on an unknown journey with his sister and temporary traveling companion Shen Wanqing. On the day they settled in, he helped Shen Wanqing block Ma Jinhua, who was trying to grab data documents, and pretended to be engaged to cope with housing pressure, thereby becoming embroiled in a years-long factory district dark secret.