O-lan is a homely servant girl in the village'sgreatest house. When she is taken as a wife byWang Lung, a simple Chinese farmer, she toilstirelessly through four pregnancies for theirfamily's survival. Reward at first is meagre,but there is hope in their work, sustenance in the land. Until the famine comes.

Forced to flee or die of starvation,the family arrives in the city, joiningthousands of peasants to beg on thestreets. It seems that all is lost, until acombination of good luck and O-lan'sto survive conspires to return them to theirhome with undreamt of wealth. But theyhave betrayed the earth that had previouslysustained them, and their money breeds onlymistrust and deception - and heartbreak for thewoman who had saved them.