The TV drama, The Lead, tells the story of Qinqiang opera actress Yi Qin'e, who is brought into the troupe by her uncle, Hu Sanyuan, by accident. Over nearly half a century of rises and falls, glories and declines, she grows from a shepherdess into a renowned Qinqiang opera star. At the same time, through the winding journey of Qinqiang opera, the drama mirrors the emotional lives and destinies of ordinary people amid four decades of transformation in Chinese society.