Based on the drama of the same name performed by the Shanghai Youth Repertory Troupe, the film tells the story of the underground CCP member Yu Haitao, who used the alias of Zhang Gongfu, and was active in the Shanghai economic circle as a businessman, fighting against KMT agents and crushing the enemy’s secret plans.
After graduating from a Shanghai nursing school, Jian Shuhua decides to work at a construction workers’ clinic in a remote area, despite the objections of her fiancé Shen Aoru. When she arrives at her new workstation, she finds that one of the clinic directors, Mo Jiabing, pays more attention to his love affair with nurse Gu Huiying than to his work. In addition, Gu’s jealousy is aroused by the arrival of the new nurse. Jian, then, the epitome of the selfless worker, has to deal with a faraway and egotistic fiancé, a selfish and lecherous boss, an unfriendly colleague, as well as the hardships of a remote and barren workstation. How can she succeed?
Before the liberation of Shanghai, Nationalist agent Zhang Rong is ordered to blend in with the captive workers of the Baotong Mill and wait for a chance to act. After the liberation, he returns to the factory, disguising himself as a far-left agitator and causing friction between the workers and management.
At a Shanghai apartment, Mr Hou, a Nationalist official, gets ready to move to Taiwan upon the imminent defeat of the KMT during the Civil War. Mrs Hou gives an ultimatum to the rest of the tenants to move out on behalf of her husband, who is the "owner" of the flat and who is now planning to sell it. From the conversations with the rest, we find out that Hou has been a Hanjian during the Sino-Japanese War and that he has since taken over the apartment by force from the old landlord, Mr Kong. The tenants, including Mr Kong, Mrs Xiao, Little Broadcast (alias Mr Xiao, played by Zhao Dan) and a schoolteacher, Mr Hua, and his wife, initially plan to band together, but circumstances force them to find other ways out. Mr Hua tries to find a place to stay at the KMT-sponsored school he is teaching in. Little Broadcast and Mrs Xiao invest in black market gold. As the situation escalates, Mr Hua gets arrested by KMT agents and his young daughter falls desperately ill.
1930's China. The village of a poor family is taken over by the occupying Japanese army. One son, Zhongliang, leaves his wife and young son to join a medic group for the Chinese Army. The other son, Zhangmin goes into hiding to protect his family. The focus shifts back and forth from the brothers' parents and Zhongliang's wife and son to Zhongliang's newfound life of luxury in a town not too far away. The plight of Zhongliang's mother, his wife, Sufan and her son, Kongeson is contrasted with Zhongliang's rise in a flourishing company.
