Episode Summary

On the eve of the full-scale Japanese invasion in July 1937, communist agent Zhuang Qifeng arrives in Gucheng with a secret mission but is quickly arrested and tortured by the collaborationist Police Chief, Li Mingjing. As the town's leadership fractures between fighting and surrendering, Zhuang Qifeng makes a dramatic escape, only to reunite with his comrades and find himself under suspicion of being a traitor. The episode concludes with Li Mingjing successfully blackmailing his rivals and establishing a puppet government to hand the city over to the Japanese.

Spoiler Alert

Our Homeland (2025) Episode 1: The Day the War Came

So, the story kicks off in a town called Gucheng on a hot summer day, July 7, 1937. Everything looks normal—bustling markets, storytellers, kids eating candy—but there's a heavy tension in the air.

Our main guy, Zhuang Qifeng, rolls into town in a rickshaw. He's looking at all the smiling faces at the local school, knowing that by nightfall, Japanese cannons will shatter their peace. He's not the only one with a secret; a spy is tailing him, and the local police chief, Li Mingjing, has just gotten orders from the Japanese to crush any anti-Japanese resistance to pave the way for their invasion.

Zhuang Qifeng bumps into his brother, Zhuang Ziqiang, who is a local communist leader heading off to a secret meeting. They have a quick, cryptic chat, promising to catch up properly later—a promise that's about to be broken.

Moments later, Li Mingjing orders a city-wide roundup of all communists, and Zhuang Qifeng is his primary target. Just before they bust in, Zhuang manages to tear up and destroy a sensitive letter. It doesn't save him from being arrested and brutally tortured.

That very night, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident ignites in Beiping, and the full-scale war against Japan begins. The Japanese army starts pushing south, right towards the province of Shandong, where Gucheng is.

A month goes by. Li Mingjing, with the approval of another official, Chen Shouzhen, decides to execute all the captured anti-Japanese activists. They're all lined up in the suburbs, but at the last second, Zhang Zhiping, the commander of the local security regiment, shows up and stops the execution. He and Li Mingjing nearly come to blows before the County Magistrate, Liu Zuguang, arrives with an official order to release all political prisoners.

Li Mingjing has to obey, but he's furious. He secretly keeps Zhuang Qifeng imprisoned, determined to force him to sign a "repentance letter." Zhuang, whose real mission is to get a message to the magistrate Liu Zuguang, tries to cut a deal: let him see the magistrate, and he'll sign. Li Mingjing refuses.

Meanwhile, the town's leadership is falling apart. In a meeting, Zhang Zhiping argues passionately for fighting the invaders, while Li Mingjing pushes for surrender. They're at a stalemate. The magistrate, Liu Zuguang, decides to head to the provincial capital, Jinan, for orders. This turns out to be a bad move, as the provincial chairman, Han Fuqu, soon abandons Jinan without a fight, leaving the door wide open for the Japanese.

While the official government is in chaos, the local Communist Party Secretary, Zhou Mi, is busy organizing guerrilla forces. We see his team, led by a captain named Peng Yong, set up an ambush. Someone gets jumpy and fires too soon, sparking a chaotic but ultimately successful firefight against a small Japanese squad.

Zhuang Qifeng's luck finally turns. Li Mingjing decides to get rid of him for good and has him taken out to the countryside to be buried alive. Just as the shovel hits the dirt, Zhang Zhiping's fiancée, Lu Ying, comes riding by and orders the police to let him go.

Finally free, a battered Zhuang Qifeng makes his way to a secret communist contact point and meets Zhou Mi. But his ordeal isn't over. Because he was held by the police and survived, some in the party now suspect he's a traitor. The only person who could clear his name, his superior Wu Ming, was killed a few days earlier.

The episode ends with Li Mingjing making his final power play. He blackmails both Zhang Zhiping and Magistrate Liu Zuguang by threatening their families. With them neutralized, he publicly announces the formation of the "Gucheng Public Security Maintenance Committee," with himself as president. It's a puppet government, created for the sole purpose of surrendering the city and welcoming the Japanese army.