In the village of Belaya Tsaplya, a rich widow of Han Khun-tao brings his brother's widow with two sons to demand the division of property. Han, who raised his nephews, does not mind. During the division, the sons of the widow force the “head of the clan” to give them nine-tenths of the property. Han does not argue here. Only his own childlessness oppresses him. But he hopes that the concubine taken by him, Li Chun-mei, will give birth to his son.
The widow is afraid: if a son is born to old Chania, she will lose the good allotted to her. Having invited the childless wife of Chania to visit, she intimidates her with the prospect of becoming a servant and advises her to drive away the concubine. Threatening suicide, the wife seeks from Han a written refusal from Li Chun-mei. A pregnant concubine is driven out of the house.
Another childless rich man lives in a neighboring village - Yu Xun-li. His wife is also in demolition. When leaving, he punishes: if a boy is born, inform him, if a girl, kill her. A girl is born. This is learned by the brother of Yu's wife, the doctor Wang, nicknamed Konoval. In the evening, he encounters a beggar-faced beggar, Li Chun-mei. Konoval buys a newborn boy from her and gives it to his sister, and takes her daughter to her (his wife recently gave birth to a dead child). The servant Yuya accidentally finds out about this substitution, but he swears to be silent.
13 years pass by. The boy Tien-Tien pleases the imaginary father with school success. But now the drunk Konoval came to Yuyu with a request to borrow an ox for plowing. Yu refuses, and even scoffs at the fact that Wang has no male offspring. The offended Wan swears revenge by revealing the truth about the Tien-tian. After some time, he comes to Han Hong-tao to return the old debt. Han and his repentant wife suffer from a lack of children. He has no time for money, and he forgives the debt to Konoval. Touched, the doctor wants to thank the old man. In the conversation, it turns out that Tien-Tien is the son of Han. Having driven out the ruined naughty little bastards, Han is going to go after his son.
The doctor is the first and tells the boy the truth about his birth. The old servant is trying to detain the boy, but he decides to go to the true father. Yu and his wife are crying.
Yu, who was reconciled with Konoval, asked him to hand over the Tien-tian verses complaining about separation. Poems touch not only the boy, but also Chania, who decides to intermarry with Yu and thank him for raising his son. And then a doctor appears with Li Chun-mei found by him. He admits that he raised a daughter, Yu, and recommends marrying her as his son Han. From the young, he takes a promise to take care of his wake.
