Twenty years ago, Jin Ge's mother died while fleeing from famine. On her deathbed, she entrusted her son to her husband, gasping her last breath: "Quick, take the child and find a way; we can only go forward." Twenty years later, Jin Ge has grown up and, together with five young friends—silent and tough Old Zhang, honest and straightforward Zhang Da, whimsical Han Xiao Liu, talented Xiao Luo, and the intelligent and learned Zheng Jun—they refuse to be bullied and exploited in the city. They go to the interior to join a road construction team, participating in building an important military highway. As the road is built to a dangerous section, Jin Ge and his friends eat at Ding Fuxi's eatery at the village entrance, where they form a friendship with Ding Fuxi's daughter, Ding Xiang, and a rogue female performer, Mo Li, who has sought refuge with the owner. The military situation becomes increasingly tense, with road workers and soldiers working day and night in cooperation. The enemy, seeing that this road undermines their invasion policy, secretly incites traitors to sabotage it. The traitors invite Jin Ge and the other workers to a banquet but fail to win them over with lies and then attempts to bribe them with money. They eventually imprison the six workers in a basement. Ding Xiang and Mo Li, suspecting something is wrong due to the long absence of Jin Ge and the others, enter the traitors' residence under the pretext of cooking for them the next day to devise a plan to rescue Jin Ge and the others. Old Zhang sacrifices himself while covering for his companions during a struggle with the henchmen. When Jin Ge returns to the village, the local garrison hears the news and promptly punishes the traitors. After the road is completed, enemy planes suddenly launch an attack. Jin Ge and the others rise to protect the road and engage in a fight against the enemy planes, ultimately sacrificing heroically alongside Mo Li. As battles flare up again at the front, reinforcements are dispatched to the frontlines via the newly built road. At this moment, the sole survivor, Ding Xiang, watches the military vehicles speed away.