The novel centers on the fate of Sun, Tian and Jin in Shuangshui Village on the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi, and reflects the broad social outlook from the late Cultural Revolution to the early reform. In the first part, Sun Shaoping, the son of a farmer, went to the original Xixian High School in early 1975. He comes from a poor family, loves himself, and is good at studying and working. He fell in love with Hao Hongmei, who came from a landlord family. Later, Hao Hongmei fell in love with Gu from a superior family. Shao Ping failed in the college entrance examination and went back to his hometown to have a baby. However, he is not depressed. He established friendship with Hui, the daughter of Tian Fujun, deputy director of the County Revolutionary Committee, and cared about the outside world with his help. Shao Ping's brother Shao An has been working at home. He and Runye, the daughter of the village party secretary Tian, were childhood friends, but Tian opposed him. After a painful ordeal, Shao An went to Shanxi to find hard-working and kind Xiulian, and Runye had to get married in tears. At this time, rural life was chaotic, and drought added fuel to the fire. In order to strengthen his prestige, Tian organization stole the river dam and the water in the upper reaches, and only lost his life. In order to "learn from Dazhai", he was overjoyed, moving and angry. The channel of life has reached the point where it must be changed. The second part,1After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in the spring of 979, everything was in ruins and full of contradictions. Tian held a branch meeting overnight to resist the responsibility system, but led the production team to take the lead in implementing it, and then promoted the responsibility system in the whole village. Shao An went to the city to pull bricks and used the money he earned to build a kiln to burn bricks, which became the "pioneer" of the commune. Shao Ping's dream and pursuit of youth also inspired him to "travel around the world" outside. He changed from a wandering handyman to a formal construction worker, and finally got a good chance to be a coal miner. His girlfriend, Xiao Xia, went to the provincial newspaper as a reporter after graduating from normal college, and they met again two years later. Runye stayed away from her unloved husband and went to work in the Youth League Committee, which led to her infatuated husband's disability after drinking and driving. Runye felt guilty, returned to her husband and began to live a happy life. Her brother Runsheng has grown up. He met Hao Hongmei, whose fate was bumpy in a foreign land, and finally they got married. The strongman Tian, who once dominated the fate of the village, not only resisted the changes in the new era, but also worried about the marriage of his daughter and son and was troubled by illness. The third part is written in 1982. Shao Ping went to the coal mine in autumn, worked hard and became an excellent worker. One day, Xiao Xia greeted him happily at the wellhead. Shao 'an's brick kilns have also made great progress. He decided to borrow money to expand the machine to make bricks. Unexpectedly, brick kilns suffered a lot because technicians didn't understand technology at all. Later, with the help of friends and county magistrate, he rose again. Runye also lived happily and gave birth to a fat son. The marriage between Run Sheng and Hao Hongmei was finally recognized by their parents, and a lovely daughter was added. But it never rains but it pours. Shao An's wife Xiulian vomited blood and was diagnosed with lung cancer while celebrating his family's 20,000-yuan primary school expansion. In the interview of flood fighting, Xiao Xia made a glorious sacrifice to save the victims. Shao Ping was also seriously injured in an accident, to save his apprentice. But they were not crushed by misfortune. Shao Ping came out of the hospital and returned to the mine with confidence.