 During the Japanese occupation, Taiwanese people are drafted to fight in the war. The protagonists are brothers who manage to dodge the draft because their mother deliberately put cow manure on their eyes, causing serious eye problems. Poor farmers struggling to make ends meet, the brothers often blame the strawman in their field for not looking after their crop. Their hardship is made worse when their livestock is taken away by the Japan army. Near the end of war, Taiwan is bombed by the American planes. A live bomb is found in the field and the brothers carry it to the Japanese, hoping to cash in on rewards for scrap metal. Reprimanded by the soldiers, they dump the bomb in to the sea, causing an explosion that gives them a bounty of fishes, which are rare and expensive during the war.