Sang Zhixia, an illegitimate daughter, becomes a pawn of her legitimate elder sister and is forced to marry Xu Ao, the heir of the Marquis of Jiaxing, in her sister's place. On their wedding night, Xu Ao publicly rejects her and hands her a divorce letter. As if things weren't bad enough, the Xu family is charged with the grave crime of collaborating with the enemy and sentenced to exile as an entire household. An imperial eunuch tears up the divorce letter, forcing Sang Zhixia to accompany the family. Along the long road to exile, she uses her knowledge of medicinal herbs to save herself, exposes her hypocritical elder sister who pretends to visit her out of concern, and saves Xu Ao when he is seriously injured and coughing up blood. They eventually settle in a barren, bitterly cold village in the northwest, where Xu family's uncles and aunts are lazy and constantly make trouble for her. Sang Zhixia resolves the household conflicts single-handedly, turns wasteland into charcoal-producing land, taps sugar maple trees to make syrup and generate income, and leads the entire family in farming and hard work. Xu Ao, who once could barely stand the sight of her, gradually recognizes her resilience and intelligence and begins protecting her at every turn.