Shanghai, China, 1930. When young Shuisheng arrives from the countryside, his uncle Liushu puts him at the service of Bijou, the mistress of Laoda, supreme boss of the Tang Triad, constantly threatened by his enemies, both those he knows and those lurking in the shadows.
Set in the decadent 1920s, Temptress Moon tells the very complicated story of a wealthy family living on the outskirts of Shanghai. Their youngest daughter, Ruyi, is brought up as a servant to her opium-addicted father and brother. Meanwhile, her brother-in-law Zhongliang has a successful, if illegal, career seducing and blackmailing married women in the city. When he comes to Ruyi's home the two fall in love, and trouble ensues.
In 1947, the Chinese Red Army sets a trap for the Nationalist forces in Jiangsu province.
Five girls live together in a Southeast University dormitory in the early 1980s.
A People's Liberation Army division in Xinjiang in 1951 aids in a water conservancy project.
To restore communications to the island of Hainan, the People's Army sends scouts across the Palm Grove Strait to the Leizhou Peninsula, where the detachment radio station was located.
Twelve-year-old Hai Wa sends a secret letter containing Japanese military information to the Eight Route Army during the anti-Japanese war.
Set in 1950s, along the Minjiang River, Fujian Province. Li Yinhua and Yang Xiaolong are childhood growing up friends and have similar interests and ambitions. They work for Baihua Isle mutual aid group now. Xiaolong's father is an individual peasant household and has a different standpoint against his son. There are several self-serving members in Yinhua's team and they are contentious about the fairness of work-points. When citrus trees suffer plague of insects, Xiaolong's father fails in rescuing the trees. At this critical moment, Yinhua get insecticide and sprayers from the district government and help peasants riding out the storm.
After her senses are surgically restored, a formerly deaf mute teenager enlists in the army and is assigned to communications work. But her inexperience with even such simple tasks as answering a telephone lead her supervisor to conclude she is incompetent, and try to have her reassigned. However, a courageous action by another soldier leads him to reevaluate his judgment.
Set in the period of land reform movement, a poor peasant Zhang gets a fertile land. But he doesn't work seriously on it, then loses money and runs into debt. Song wants to buy Zhang's land but his son thinks that they should help Zhang.
