One day in 1979, in a common Siheyuan (courtyard house) in southern Beijing, widow Tang Yuxiu (played by Yan Ni), a pickled vegetable factory worker, and divorced firefighter Cheng Dahe (played by Zhou Xiaobin) become a couple. Prior to this marriage, Yuxiu's son Fang Hai (played by Shang Zijian) believed that the Cheng family was interested in the Siheyuan left by his father and strongly opposed the marriage, and indeed guessed the thoughts of Cheng's mother (Gong Jinghua) and Dahe's younger brother Xiao Lin (played by Tong Yue). Dahe's daughter Yuanyuan (played by Dai Lele) disdainfully regarded Yuxiu just as Fang Hai did. After marriage, Yuxiu and Dahe prioritized their roles as a couple last, working together to take care of the entire family. Yuanyuan and Fang Hai gradually felt moved by their sincere efforts. Later on, with the help of his brother and sister-in-law, Xiao Lin married his long-time love Lily (played by Yao Chen); Yuanyuan married the honest scholar Lu Nan (played by Yu Entai); Fang Hai, taken care of by businessman Xie Boda (played by Hong Jiantao), started a career and confirmed his relationship with childhood sweetheart Guo Xiaozhuo (played by Ni Hongjie); and Yuxiu and Dahe had their own child, Cheng Jun (played by Dong Bowen). Although there were constant frictions in the big family, they slowly produced a harmonious song. Unexpectedly, a few years later, the couple Xiao Lin, whom Yuxiu and Dahe cared for a lot, would bring up issues regarding the house and Cheng Jun.
