[1] Set in a village near the city of Harbin, the novel examines the difficulties of peasant life during the 1920s and early 1930s, and in particular the suffering of women.

The novel begins by introducing Two-and-a-half Li 二里半 and his wife, Old Mother Pockface 麻面婆, and son, Tunnel Legs 罗圈腿.

A seventeen-year-old girl from the village, Golden Bough 金枝, has been secretly having sex with twenty-year-old Ch'eng-yeh 成业.

Another villager, Chao San 赵三, has crippled a thief whom he mistook as a man from his landlord who threatened to damage his firewood in place of unpaid rent.

His son P'ing 平儿 works as a shepherd and also later helps his newly freed father sell chicken cages in the city.

A 1999 theatrical adaptation, written and directed by Tian Qinxin (田沁鑫), won a number of awards.