In 1987, in a small town in southern China, Lin Wanwan, armed with modern business ideas, finds herself working at a garment factory on the verge of bankruptcy. Her mean-spirited cousin, the factory director, favors his own people and constantly pushes her aside. When she learns that a county trade fair could secure foreign trade orders, she breathes new life into the factory's surplus polyester-cotton fabric, redesigns bell-bottom trousers and batwing shirts, and joins forces with laid-off female workers to establish a simple production line. Fearing her growing business success, her cousin conspires with fabric merchants to cut off her supply of raw materials. Undeterred, Lin Wanwan heads to the trade fair and becomes an overnight sensation with an outdoor fashion show, winning a large number of orders. After her cousin maliciously reports her, she clears her name with account books and contracts and takes over as factory director. She reforms the factory's management system, secures major foreign trade contracts with Chinese-style clothing, and transforms the once-dilapidated factory into a thriving enterprise.