During World War II, Ma Dasan (Jiang Wen), a farmer from Guajiatai Village, Hebei, China, lived a peaceful life under Japanese rule. One night, the guerrillas kidnapped Japanese Army soldier Hanaya Kosaburo (Kagawa Teruyuki) and translator Dong Hanchen, tied them up and stuffed them into sacks and placed them at Ma Dasan's house, and told Ma to take good care of them and bring them on New Year's Eve a few days later. Ma Dasan and the villagers guarded the two people tremblingly. Hanaya Kosaburo and Dong Hanchen sent out distress signals several times, all of which were resolved by the villagers. Half a year later, the villagers were worried that the matter would be exposed, but they did not dare to let Hanaya go. Ma Dasan was finally persuaded by Dong Hanchen to send Hanaya and Dong to the Japanese military police station in exchange for food. Japanese military police officer Sakuzuka Ichi was a fellow villager of Hanaya. He was polite to Ma and others on the surface, but behind his back he accused Hanaya of bringing shame to the imperial army and beat him. The gendarmerie went to Ma's village to celebrate with the villagers and deliver food, but when they were drunk, they suddenly showed murderous intent.