In the 1980s, Su Nian faces poverty, an injured husband, Gu Chengchuan, and their young daughter, Duoduo. Determined to change their fate with her own hands, she starts with a simple bowl of hot porridge. She goes on to plant orchards, make chili sauce, and establish a food factory, leading the villagers on the road to prosperity. As trouble from relatives and schemes from business rivals come one after another, she refuses to back down. Gu Chengchuan stands by her side, working hard alongside her and protecting his wife and daughter through every storm. Together, the family turns bitter days into sweet ones, until the cooking smoke rising from their little courtyard gradually connects to the lights of thousands of homes.