The farmers of Muju, Cheonbuk Province, are not only poor, one year they don't even have enough water to irrigate their rice paddies. Despite many attempts to dig a canal to the Geum River, they fail every single time.
Throughout these difficulties, the villagers find the strength to endure, until at last the military coup of 1962 brings in a government that gives them the support they need to escape starvation and ruin.