Set in the early republican period, a small mountain town in the west Hunan Province. An old boatman keeps a ferry boat and helps people cross the river. He sticks with his granddaughter together and helps each other in difficulties. She became a posthumous child after her parents died for love together 17 years ago. The boatman hopes the girl to find a reliable man and the two boys of the boss in town love the girl in the same time. The two boys compete for her love by singing love songs, but one day the singing stopped and grievous news comes that the elder boy was drowned. The younger boy still loves the girl but runs away angrily because of his brother's death. After the old boatman died in a stormy night, the girl realizes many things and goes on keeping the ferry for the younger boy.