No one expected the Qing Dynasty to fall, least of all the people of Shawan.Sheltered from time by the mountains that surround the village, they have prospered from tilling the rich soil inherited from their ancestors. Helmed by the Chen and Zhu clans, its feudal traditions leave them unprepared for the chaos about to engulf their homeland.Amid clashing ideologies within and Japanese invaders without, the two families must lead the village through decades of transformation. As the old certainties are uprooted, a molten nation takes shape around them. But will Shawan still be a place to call home?