After failing to get into university, Zhang Neng Liang is forced by his grandfather to join the army and trains with one of the hardest ground troops to become a tanker. Zhang Neng Liang is intelligent, resource and often goes against the grain to do things that are far from conventional. Thinking that he could rely on his old ways, he hits a roadblock when he encounters his nemesis in Yu Da Lei, and two rivals engage in a battle of wits and will for two years.
Team leader Niu Nu Li is a straight arrow from the rural area whose biggest dream is to get into military school. He fails twice because of Zhang Neng Liang which causes a rift between them. Huang Xiaomeng is a tomboy who choose to be a tanker because it is what she wants to do, and she overcomes all odds to become the first batch of women soldiers in name and in action. Meanwhile, Zhang Neng Liang, Niu Nu Li and Yu Da Lei earn the nickname 'the three swordsmen tankers.'