中國​​西南的崇山峻嶺中散佈著很多大大小小的山谷，當地人稱為"壩子"，玫瑰壩便是其中之一。這裏交通不便，壩子裏的人很少走出去，壩子外的人很少走進來。山民們孤陋寡聞。除了土匪和貪官污吏偶爾騷擾，他們的生活單調平靜。1950年，革命的大潮涌進了這個偏遠的角落，使這裏發生了翻天覆地的變化。

The magnificent mountains of southwestern China shelter many valleys of various sizes. Because travel on the rugged mountain paths was difficult, the villagers of Rose Valley seldom ventured out and visitors from the outside world were rare. Life was predictable and largely peaceful, for hundreds of years.

《玫瑰壩》61萬多字，描寫的就是這麼一個偏僻山谷中發生的故事。主要線索是一個愛情故事。男主人公是鄉社幹部，女主人公卻是地主分子。他們相戀的背景是一系列重大的歷史事件：土改，鎮反，三反五反，合作化，反右，大躍進，大飢荒，社教，文化大革命。他們一個是革命者，一個是革命的對象。一個是理想主義者，想要建造一個人間的天堂；一個是現實主義者，只祈求平平安安地過日子。一個信仰西方傳來的革命理論，一個恪守中國固有的古老傳統。一個迷信理念和邏輯，行動狂熱；一個依賴直覺和常識，辦事冷靜。於是，他們的愛就變得非常複雜，非常曲折，非常困難。當政治運動到來的時候，他們又身不由己地成為"運動員"，在驚濤駭浪中掙扎沉浮。

On October 1, 1949, the victorious Chinese Communist Party declares a new republic and the start of a new era. The new government relentlessly unleashes one political campaign after another — Land Reform, Agricultural Collectivization, the Great Leap Forward, and many others, culminating in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of 1966. The remoteness of Rose Valley provides no insulation from the deliberate pervasiveness of the continuous Revolution, so each campaign washes over the inhabitants and threatens to drown them.

除了這條愛情主線之外，還有幾條次要的線索。這些長長短短的線索交織在一起，全景式地描繪了玫瑰壩這麼一個很小的山鄉，并折射出了那個年代裏的整個中國。

The modern turmoil of Rose Valley is the backdrop for a love story between Feng Dongming and Chen Sufen. Dongming is a zealous revolutionary, assigned by the Communist Party to lead the village. Sufen is widowed by the Revolution when her husband is executed for the crime of being a landowner; her sole inheritance is being permanently branded as an enemy of the people. In a country divided into revolutionaries and class enemies, their love is ill-fated from the start. Though Rose Valley is small and remote, the story of Dongming and Sufen is the story of the generation that built the New China.