In a year of severe drought and famine, Shen Maisui has barely married into the Lu family when her cruel grandmother-in-law and the second branch of the family sell her to a grain merchant in exchange for food. Awakening from the brink of death, she immediately burns the deed of sale and establishes the rules for dividing the household with nothing but an iron wok. Taking the eldest branch with her, she sets out to make a living on her own. Along the journey to escape the famine, she outwits troublesome relatives and stands up to the unscrupulous merchant Qian Fugui. With multigrain pancakes and bone-broth braised dishes, she saves her starving neighbors and even forces her timid husband, Lu Changhe, to stand up for himself. From a makeshift stove on a desolate road to a food shop in the county town, she sustains her entire family with the warmth of home cooking and ultimately brings every wrongdoer to justice.