Young Ma Xiaoshan loses his job and returns to his hometown, where his uncle and cousin assume he is only good for an 800-yuan-a-month security guard job. Determined to restore his long-suffering mother's dignity, he uses all the family's savings to buy a metal detector and heads into the mountains in search of gold. Thanks to his extraordinary ability to sense metal, he repeatedly discovers gold in abandoned mines and along riverbanks. He assembles a reliable team and uses a van to haul away gold hidden along the riverbanks. When rivals maliciously try to seize his mining spots and competitor Liang Fu fights him for control of the mine, Ma Xiaoshan sticks to the rules and carefully preserves all his evidence. He legally secures the contract to operate the old mine, develops it responsibly, and shares the profits with his team. Finally, he puts an end to all the humiliation his family has endured, moves them into a new home, and leads hardworking villagers toward shared prosperity.