Wen Shan is a mediocre screenwriter struggling to make a living in Beijing. Commercial projects are left undone, and his own stories fall by the wayside. He lives a stagnant life in a fast growing city. By chance, he begins to write eulogies for a living. He meets the families of the deceased, carefully observes, listens to the stories, and at last, puts pen to paper. As he restores the lives of others, he finds his own place in the city and finally realizes that ordinary people can take the center stage too.
The story revolves around Shang Jie, the overly critical head of a crime investigation team; Xia Ying, a forensic examiner who is completely engrossed with her profession; Li Xue Kai, a detective and a good tracker; Song Mi, an innocent and ditsy analyst and Ying Ming, a second-generation rich who works as a criminal psychologist. The five form an unlikely team as they are the rejects of the department, yet through teamwork and dedication, they succeed in solving the most unusual murder cases.
Set in the eponymous White Deer Village in Shaanxi Province where the two most important families – Bai and Lu – and their sons have always lived together in peace. But the turmoil leads to a fierce struggle for land ownership. A young woman new to the village soon finds herself caught between the two camps. Director Liu Jin uses the story of these two families as a metaphor for the fate of the Chinese people as first Chinese war lords are overrun by Japanese invaders, then civil war follows hot on the heels of the Second World War and finally the victorious Maoists begin waving their red flags. The drama is based off the novel by Chen Zhong Shi.
