The story begins in southern Shaanxi in the 1920s. The villagers of Hujia Village were dissatisfied with the government's heavy taxes and extortion, and clashed with the government. They were chased by soldiers and the whole village was forced to flee to Gouwa Mountain in the western Henan mountainous area and set up their own village. Everyone unanimously elected the big black mule (played by Fan Ming) as the head of the village, and the female head of the village was respected as the "grandmother" (played by Ning Jing) of the village. On the way to escape, the grandmother picked up a boy who was about to starve to death and named him Gouwa (played by Luo Jin) to feed him. A few years later, Gouwa grew up and encountered a drought that had not been seen in a century. The farmers in Zhangjiabao were slaughtered by the bully cannibal (played by Li Geng) because they could not pay the rent. Grandma led the people of the village to help Zhangjiabao. Li Dongqing (played by Lu Fangsheng), the son of the cannibal, returned from studying in Japan and inherited his evil father's legacy. He led the security group to encircle and suppress Gouwa Mountain, and the head of the village died. Gou Wa was filled with righteous indignation and led his people to five victories in five battles until the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. He and his grandmother joined the torrent of the national liberation war...