The story takes place in the winter of 1998, when the Red Flag Factory ushered in a wave of restructuring, and twenty-four-year-old repairman Shen Zhigang unfortunately was laid off. To make matters worse, his eldest uncle Zhao Daqiang, relying on being the adopted son of grandfather Shen Guoliang, attempted to seize the Shen family ancestral home, coming over with people to force the handover of the deed. Under intense conflict, grandmother Liang Sufan spat blood in extreme anger; at the same time, aunt Han Xiulan was gravely ill with a high fever, the family was so poor they lacked medicine and food, father Shen Jianguo had inexplicably disappeared three years ago and was also branded with the infamous reputation of "causing an industrial accident and fleeing in fear of crime", and his uncle had passed away from a work-related injury, plunging the family's life into despair.