Set in the eponymous White Deer Village in Shaanxi Province where the two most important families – Bai and Lu – and their sons have always lived together in peace. But the turmoil leads to a fierce struggle for land ownership. A young woman new to the village soon finds herself caught between the two camps. Director Liu Jin uses the story of these two families as a metaphor for the fate of the Chinese people as first Chinese war lords are overrun by Japanese invaders, then civil war follows hot on the heels of the Second World War and finally the victorious Maoists begin waving their red flags. The drama is based off the novel by Chen Zhong Shi.

Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang had planned to go abroad with Shirley Yang. However, they were entrusted by Professor Chen to travel to the Coral Spiral with Mr. Ming to search for the Qin Emperor's Bone Mirror. They befriended Ruan Hei, Gucai, and Duoling on Coral Temple Island. Together, they set sail. One night, they were sucked into the underwater cave of Guixu. In despair, Hu Bayi and Shirley Yang decided to risk their lives using the Sun-shooting wooden mechanism to lead everyone out of Guixu.

The drama begins during China’s Reform and Opening Up era in the 1980s in Wenzhou, south China, an area renown for the emergence of many successful businesses. It charts the progress of a certain family headed by Zhou Wanshun, that lived in Rui’an village. The family had the opportunity for one of their two children to go to Italy to study. Wanshun (quite extraordinary at the time, and even today) chose to let his 13-year old daughter, Ayu, go to study rather than his 16-year-old son, son Maigou. Unbeknownst to his wife, Zhao Yinhua and son he sold their ancestral home cum cottage industry and spent all the proceeds in funding the Italy study trip. Although he had no business plan, he set out with his wife and son to Wenzhou City to “make money”, any which way. Together, they make it to Wenzhou City, while the daughter goes to Italy, each forging different paths, especially the children each persevering through challenges and hardship, achieving individual success.