故事发生在20世纪80年代初西部某大城市的深巷小院。年仅19岁的乔雪梅考上北京一所重点大学时，母亲突遇车祸身亡。面对瘫痪的父亲和三个未成年的弟妹，她毅然放弃上大学的机会，挑起赡养老父、抚育弟妹的重担，直至老父含笑而终，弟妹事业有成，才与默默爱她的工人许师傅成婚，并通过自己执著的努力取得了大学文凭，创办了老年公寓，为身边的下岗工人们打拼出一片属于自己的天地。

It happens in a small yard of a remote alley in a city of West China in the 1980s. Qiao Xuemei, a 19-year-old girl, has just been enrolled in a key university in Beijing when her mother died in a car accident. She has to give up the opportunity for university education since she is expected to support the family. After her paralyzed father passed away and her younger sisters and brothers have established themselves, she gets married with a worker Mr. Xu who has loved her silently. With persistent efforts, she gets the college diploma and runs a nursing house for the old people to help laid-off workers to find a new job.