As a young boy, Taiming is first educated by his grandfather, Old Hu, who teaches him traditional subject matters. After moving to a public school, Taiming’s world view widens. After his graduation, he fails the medical school exams, so he enters the teachers’ program at the Department of Japanese. He develops a crush on one of his colleagues, Naito Hisako, who eventually breaks his heart because it is inappropriate for a Japanese woman to be with a Taiwanese man.
In an attempt to start over, he moves to Japan, where he obtains a diploma in physical studies, but shortly after that, he goes back to his hometown in Taiwan. When his grandfather dies, his relatives engage in a family feud over dividing up the land and spiritual responsibilities, which disgusts him.
He moves to China, where he continues to work as a teacher and eventually gets married. However, he is captured during the Japanese invasion and accused of being a spy. After his release, the Japanese force him to work as a civilian employee in the naval force southern China, where he meets a group of soldiers who tell him about instances of rape and other atrocities of war. When he witnesses the beheading of a Chinese prisoner of war, he suffers from a mental breakdown and is discharged from the service.
Back in Taiwan, he slowly recovers at first but is saddened to see how his fellow countrymen are suffering under the oppressive Japanese rule. When his mother and stepbrother die, he becomes insane and wanders around aimlessly.
In the end, nobody knows where Taiming has ended up; however, there is a rumor that he may have gone to southern China to broadcast anti-Japanese radio shows.
