On the nation island of Taiwan, Ngoo Ts n-suī is a humble young man with a gift for handling water buffalo and a character that mirrors the buffalo's tenacity and strength. His father forces him to give up his dreams for a higher education to work on the family farm. When his father kicks him out of the family home, Ts n-suī becomes a tutor, gets a job in an agricultural research lab that specializes in banana trees, marries and starts a family before the War in the Pacific. When Japan surrenders in 1945, the Chinese Nationalists arrive, and Taiwanese are handed from one master to another. Life in Taiwan takes a turn for the worse under the Chiang's iron-fisted regime. When Ts n-suī witnesses the brutal murder of his friend during the barbaric political suppression of the 228 uprisings, he is terrorized, flees for his own life, and goes into hiding. He and his family manage to survive military roundups and summary executions. Over time, Ts n-suī leads the country's largest banana
