On the day of his 60th birthday, Zhou Shouyi gets into an argument with his daughter-in-law, Liu Guilan, while carving a wooden spinning top for his grandson. His son, Zhou Daqiang, takes his wife's side and accuses his father of messing around with junk. After the argument, Zhou Daqiang reveals that he has rented out the old family carpentry workshop and intends to confiscate his father's pension. Heartbroken, Zhou Shouyi proposes splitting up the family. Liu Guilan produces a division agreement she prepared long ago, claiming the county-town property, savings, and everything else for herself, while leaving Zhou Shouyi only an abandoned old house west of the village and a pile of old tree roots. Zhou Shouyi signs the agreement and moves out. He struggles to settle into the dilapidated, leaky old house, while his kind-hearted longtime neighbor, Zhang Xiulian, secretly helps him.