20世纪70年代，自尊好强的农家子弟孙少平（袁弘 饰）在原西县高中读书，与地主出身的郝红梅（汪芦云 饰）互生爱意。后来郝红梅与家境优越的班长顾养民（张浩天 饰）谈起了恋爱。同村同班的好友田润生（尹智玄 饰）为此打抱不平，狠狠地揍了顾养民一顿。倔强的少平不肯承认自己失恋，开始改变自己，积极参加学校大型演出的排练。好读课外书的少平敏感、自尊，吸引着县领导的女儿田晓霞（李小萌 饰）。孙少平高考意外落榜，回乡劳动。经历了一系列事件后，他断然拒绝县百货公司主任之女侯玉英（赵俊珺 饰）以进城为诱的追求，远离故土，外出打工谋生。孙少平的哥哥孙少安（王雷 饰）初中毕业就在家里劳动，与村支书田福堂的女儿田润叶（佟丽娅 饰）青梅竹马，他们的爱情却遭到田父的剧烈反对。最终，孙少安娶了勤劳善良的山西姑娘贺秀莲（吕一 饰），转型开办了烧砖窑，走上了致富路。孙少平依然漂泊在外…… （英语）the story begins in the 1970s. a self-respecting peasant boy sun shaoping (acted by yuan hong) goes to the county of yuanxi to complete his high school. he falls in love with his classmate hao hongmei (acted by wang luyun), a girl of the landlord class descent. later, hao hongmei begins another relationship with her monitor gu yangmin (acted by zhang haotian), a young man whose family is relatively much better than sun shaoping's. tian runsheng (acted by yin zhixuan), sun shaoping's classmate and friend from the same village, takes up the cudgel for shaoping and beats gu yangmin. out of a stubborn pride, shaoping refuses to admit that he has broken up with hao hongmei and begins to change himself, actively participating in rehearsals for school-wide performances. shaoping, a sensitive and self-respecting reader, is attracted to tian xiaoxia (acted by li xiaomeng), the daughter of a county leader. sun shaoping unexpectedly fails the college entrance exam and returns home to work in the field. after a series of events, he flatly rejects the pursuit of hou yuying (acted by zhao junjun), the daughter of the director of the county department store, on the condition that he can move to the county. he then leaves his hometown and works to earn a living. sun shaoping's elder brother sun shao'an (acted by wang lei) has been working in the field for the family since he finished junior high school. he and tian runye (acted by tong liya), the daughter of the village's party secretary tian futang, are childhood sweethearts, but their love is met with fierce opposition from runye's father. in the end, sun shao'an marries he xiulian (acted by lv yi), a hard-working and kind-hearted girl from shanxi province, and starts a brick kiln to become wealthy. away from hometown, sun shaoping hasn't settled down yet.