In the 1980s, Lu Jiaming, a university graduate who returns to his hometown after failing to make it in the city, faces skepticism from the villagers and financial hardships at home. But with his forward-thinking business sense, he finds a way to turn things around. He repackages unsold sour apricots as "First Love Fruit" and makes them an instant hit. He then pioneers a new way of selling pork by individual cuts, leads the villagers in establishing a cooperative, and builds the local cured-meat brand "Qingshiling." Along his entrepreneurial journey, he defeats the malicious schemes of village bully Li Ergou, overcomes distribution blockades and quality-related accusations from a state-owned cannery, and takes on the financial might of the provincial capital's Lion Foods through a localized business strategy. In the end, Lu Jiaming leads the entire village in modernizing production, protecting their brand, and forging a path to prosperity through rural development.