The film competed in competition for the Golden Bear at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival,[1] where Lutz Reitemeier was awarded a Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution (Photography).

[2] The film focuses primarily on Bai Juaxian, his son Xiaowen and Hei Wa up to the point of the war with Japan.

Bai Juaxian is the elder of a rural village on White Deer Plain.

A drunk Lu Zilin later returns to the village to report he has a position as an official.

Juaxian leads the villages in a confrontation with a small KMT contingent and is successful in driving them off.

Hei Wa also runs off because of an impending marriage arranged by Bai Juaxian.

The patriarch of the family is elderly but his concubine Tian Xiao-er is young, attractive and vital.

Hei Wa with the support of Ziaopeng decide to raid the ancestral hall and arrest and parade several local villages for corruption.

Lu Zilin tries to rape Xiao-er but is interrupted by what they believe to be Hei Wa calling out the distance.

Lu Zilin then suggest to Xiao-er that the Bai family is source for all their misfortunes.

Lu Zilin is arrested by the police for being an official as he is wanted by the current government.

Hei Wa returns to White Deer Plain and is now the leader of a gang.