侯久满（倪大红饰）在一个家族造枪造炮的环境中长大，他一心想通过自己的技艺打败西方列强。一次偶然机会，他被慈禧封为“枪炮侯”，但清朝朝廷并没有给予他资助。为了筹集资金，侯久满不惜使用各种方法敛财，但他坚持不损害百姓利益。在这个过程中，他还陷入了一段曲折的感情经历。他原本有一个结发妻子侯氏（赵静饰），但慈禧太后（吕中饰）却强迫他娶一个“耳目”阿尔萨兰（杨雪饰）为正室。因为心里仍然爱着侯氏，侯久满耍了个花招，先休了侯氏，娶了阿尔萨兰，再把侯氏娶回来

侯久满的四个孩子各有命运。长子跟随慈禧太后，成为了一个保守派的官员；二子加入了义和团，为了国家独立而奋斗；三子则前往日本学习，受到西方文明的影响，成为一个现代派的思想家；四子则是个乱世豪杰，从事地下活动，暗中支持革命，最终在辛亥革命中为国家做出了杰出贡献。侯久满在子女各奔东西的同时，也在为自己的梦想不断努力，最终成功造出了一批先进的武器，对于国家的现代化建设做出了重要贡献。

Hou Jiuman (played by Ni Dahong) grew up in an environment where the family made guns and cannons. He bent on defeating the Western powers through his skills. By chance, he was named "Marquis of Gun Pao" by Cixi, but the Qing court did not grant him funding. In order to raise funds, Hou Jiuman did not hesitate to use various methods to raise money, but he insisted not to harm the interests of the people. In the process, he also fell into a tortuous emotional experience. He originally had a married wife, Hou Shi (played by Zhao Jing), but the Empress Dowager Cixi (played by Lu Zhong) forced him to marry an "eyes and ears" Arsalan (played by Yang Xue) as the main family. Because he still loves Hou Shi in his heart, Hou Jiuman played a trick, first divorced Hou Shi, married Arsaran, and then married Hou Shi back

Hou Jiuman's four children have their own destiny. The eldest son followed the Empress Dowager Cixi and became a conservative official; the second son joined the Boxers and fought for national independence; the third son went to Japan to study and was influenced by Western civilization and became a modernist thinker; the fourth son was a hero in troubled times , engaged in underground activities, secretly supported the revolution, and finally made outstanding contributions to the country in the Revolution of 1911. While his children were going their separate ways, Hou Jiuman was also working hard for his dreams, and finally succeeded in creating a batch of advanced weapons, which made important contributions to the country's modernization.