In 1985, Hongxing Garment Factory is on the verge of bankruptcy, and hundreds of workers block the entrance with shovels, demanding their overdue wages. Taking advantage of the crisis, the treacherous deputy factory director pressures Lu Jianjun to sign a contract selling the factory. Furious, Lu tears up the contract and slams a cleaver into the table, making a solemn pledge to stake his hand on keeping the factory open. “The factory will never be sold. I'll pay the wages owed!” After binding himself to the Great Nation Craftsmanship System, he uses his ahead-of-its-time batwing shirts and bodybuilding pants to break through the fabric blockade. Leading impoverished workers to turn the tables, he takes on unscrupulous merchants and gradually transforms a failing business into a commercial empire generating tens of billions in profits.