Through three loosely connected stories centered on individuals, Huisken and Menegoz depict the changes in urban and rural areas as well as the development of remote regions. A traveling tinker from Old Beijing observes the industrialization taking place around him. A young couple from the village of Minh Tu Sian harvests rice using traditional methods but is already celebrating their wedding in a modern way. Engineering graduate Tschao Lin travels to Shanghai by ship up the Yangtze River to help build a railway line. In the finale, a difficult stage—bridging the wild river—is completed.
Young forester Sixt is wounded one night. Smuggling in the mountains is the reason. By day, the brothers Benno and Simon Schaidler are respectable citizens - by night, they are smugglers and poachers.
A young street vendor who is a cockfighting aficionado, attracted by the image of one of them, settles on the ranch of its owner where he falls in love with the foreman's daughter.
