At a press conference for the two astronauts about to head into space on the Shuguang No. 16 spacecraft, fourth-timer Gu Xinghe [Bing Shao] and first-timer Ma Fei [Yu Bai] stand in the spotlight, yet Ma Fei's family is conspicuously absent.
September 1990: as a young boy in the city of Dongpei, Ma Fei's father, engineer Ma Haowen [Chao Deng], had given him a globe crafted from a football. But during a splashy ceremony for the opening of a bridge that Ma Haowen had designed, the bridge collapsed, tainting Ma Haowen's reputation forever.
15 December 2019: after 57 days the two astronauts are due to return to Earth in three days’ time. Suddenly, however, all contact is lost with Jiuquan when space debris damages the spacecraft's radio antenna.
February 1991: Ma Haowen has been convicted of negligence and sent to a remote prison, where his wife Xinyu [Suxi Ren] visits and gets him to sign divorce papers. During his prison sentence, Ma Haowen is bullied; at home, his son Ma Fei is also bullied.
In 1997 Ma Haowen returns home to Dongpei after seven years, still hated by people in the town. Xinyu now has a sugar daddy, railway administrator Meng [Chao Liang], and the two have sent Ma Fei to Boyu High School, an exclusive local boarder that's among the four best in Dongpei. When Ma Fei is expelled for skipping class and reading a Jin Yong martial arts novel, Ma Haowen publicly challenges the headmaster, Yan [Jianyi Li], over the decision. Yan finally agrees to let Ma Fei stay on for a while, as long as he makes the top 10 in class. When Meng has to go to Guangzhou on business, Ma Haowen spends time with his son but he's still mocked by locals in the street and still can't find a job due to his tarnished reputation, despite his vast architectural experience. One man, Liu Baliang [Yaheng Wu] who works as a construction supervisor does give him a job after Ma Haowen helps him out in setting a proper demolition of a structure in just two minutes while Liu's men cannot; and Ma Haowen's one-time apprentice, Lu Datou [Ge Wang], surreptitiously gives him and his son a place to stay. In return, Ma Haowen does a lot of work under Lu Datou's name.
With his father's encouragement, Ma Fei starts to study hard, though Xinyu is appalled at what is going on. At the high school, Ma Haowen becomes friendly with Gao Tianxiang [Wang Xi], a young replacement teacher who believes in Ma Fei. Ma Haowen tries to get his son to learn in a lateral way, not just rote from school books, and to open his eyes to the world. He finally pulls him out of high school and educates him on the road, though Ma Fei is almost drowned in a heavy storm that separates the two of them. After a difficult test, Ma Fei failed to score in the top ten but Ma Haowen cheered his son up and stated that he was still proud of him for trying his best. Gao sneaks into the principal's office and finds Ma Fei's essay and persuades the teacher's council to give Ma Fei a chance to read his essay, which she believes to be good enough to give him a top-ten position. Eventually, the essay moves the teachers and enables Ma Fei to have a perfect score to be a top ten student, making Yan lose the bet. Outside, an insane man comes and wreaks havoc on the school grounds and Ma Haowen forces the principal to reveal that the insane man is actually Yan's son who was once a top student but after a failed test, Yan disowned his son. Depressed, the son committed suicide but survived. However, the head injuries from the suicide caused him to become mentally invalid.
After revealing the truth, Yan breaks down and cries causing everyone to realize that the reason he puts Ma Fei down is to hide his own failure as a father. Ma Haowen then makes Yan change his way as his conservative way is the reason why he lost his son.
Several years later, Ma Fei graduates from his school and is accepted into aviation school. While eating at a restaurant, Ma Haowen discovers that Lu Datou was the one behind the collapse of the bridge after eavesdropping on him talking with his subordinate. Shocked to realize that the reason Lu was so nice to him and his son was to avoid suspicion all the time, Haowen breaks into the room and confronts Lu. Cornered, Lu reveals that he sabotaged the bridge to gain Haowen's position as chief engineer. Enraged, Haowen beats up Lu and brings him to the court to fully vindicate him after many years.
16 December 2019: Ma Fei volunteers to go outside the spacecraft to inspect the damaged antenna, without which they cannot return to Earth. Gu Xinghe forbids him, but eventually Ma Fei makes his own, unconventional decision, as his father has always taught him.
