The story narrates the arduous experiences of Xie Yuchen, who had studied abroad and returned home, Xiao Jianfei, the company commander of the People's Liberation Army, and He Wenbo, a Nationalist Party lieutenant general. Under the leadership of General Mu Shengzhong, they met while building the Qinghai-Tibet Highway and made a great vow to build the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. However, they experienced a series of natural disasters and man-made calamities that forced the project to be shelved. In , their sons, together with the railway troops, endured countless hardships and built the Qinghai-Tibet Railway to Golmud. But due to worldwide problems such as permafrost and high-altitude hypoxia, the 60,000-strong road-building army stopped advancing under the Kunlun Mountains. It was not until in the Fenghuo Mountain permafrost observation station, which was more than meters above sea level, that Xiao Xiangqian and Xie Shanfeng used their lives and blood to obtain valuable scientific research results. The third-generation engineering commander Xiao Wancheng, Xie Kunlun, He Gaoyuan, and others continued the effort one after another and finally realized the millennium dream of building a world-class snowy land road.