Professor Hao Gu, an expert in upland rice, collapses from overwork after solving a problem that had stumped the industry for 30 years. He wakes up to find he has traveled back to 1958, becoming Fugui Wang, a villager of Baiyang Village during a severe famine. The Wang family has been reduced to eating White Clay to survive. To get meat for his sweetheart, the original Fugui had pledged his sister to the butcher. Now, as the agricultural professor, Hao Gu decides to use his knowledge to feed the family through farming. Just as he picks up a hoe, a "Farming System" binds with him, allowing him to exchange tasks for advanced farming tools. As Gu begins by improving the soil at home, the butcher arrives to take his sister. To protect sister, Gu makes a deal with the butcher to repay the equivalent of ten pounds of meat within three days. Can he succeed in growing enough to lead his family out of hunger?