The story begins with a complex love story. Young and beautiful, Liu Huifang, a worker, hesitates between two men, one of whom is Song Dacheng, the deputy director of the workshop, the other is Wang Husheng, a new graduate.
When she was a child, Liu Huifang's father passes away. Mother, with three children, lives a simple and frugal life. Cherishing beautiful wishes for the future, Liu Huifang is dreaming of love and a happy family. Song Dacheng, an orphan and a good friend of Liu, always helps her family while Wang Husheng, born in an intellectual family, needs her help now. Liu Huifang is caught in a dilemma.
At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Wang Husheng's father, a famous scholar, is arrested suddenly, and lost any touch with the family. Being in anxiety and sorrow, Husheng's mother passed away soon. His sister, Wang Yaru, a doctor, finds her pregnant after she sees her fiancé off to cadre school, and then, regardless of her fiancé, Luogang's dissuasion, gives birth to a girl named Luo Dan,. One day, Luo Gang suddenly comes back; Wang Yaru is intoxicated with joy but also perceives something happens to him. Afterwards, Luo Gang is off quietly with their daughter, leaving a letter saying that he is wanted by the police without any hope of returning alive and he asks her to forget him.
After marriage, Liu Huifang and Wang Husheng are affectionate to each other. Some day, on the way home, Yanzi, Liu Huifang's sister, finds a girl baby and brings it home. Considering that the family is stuck in financial difficulty, mother refuses to accept it; Liu Huifang and Yanzi can not leave the baby to the care of anybody else, and sprout a motherly love for it. Unwilling as Wang Husheng is, he has no choice but to accept it, and names the baby Liu Xiaofang. One year later, Liu and Wang have their own child. Seeing Liu Huifang married, Song Dacheng is disappointed and depressed. With Liu's help, Song marries Xu Yuejuan, his colleague, though he doesn't love her. A sudden rare disease Liu Xiaofang contracts worsens the family's situation. Song Dacheng is supporting Liu and her family, but his wife hates this. After he explains it away in sincerity, he gets his wife's trust at last.
Liu Huifang goes to night school, where she makes an acquaintance with the teacher, Luo Gang. Luo Ggang is moved by Liu's activeness and kind-heartedness. They get along well. Accidentally, the true origin of Liu Xiaofang is brought into daylight. Wang Yaru spends several years curing Liu Xiaofang's disease. A choice is waiting for Liu Xiaofang to make......