罗小通的母亲务实能干,紧跟时代潮流发家致了富。而罗小通的父亲罗通则不能"与时俱进",最终因难以忍受妻子与人通奸的耻辱,杀死了妻子,锒铛入狱。罗小通则成了孤儿。十年蹉跎后,罗小通流落到故乡附近的一个破落不堪的五通神庙里,试图用叙述来打动老和尚,让他收自己为徒。莫言为我们讲述了三代人物的故事:第一个故事,是罗小通亲历的上个世纪80年代农村屠宰作坊发展到肉联厂的故事;第二个故事,是父母辈的人物老兰和自己的父母罗通罗玉珍野骡子姑姑等人之间的纠葛。(Luo Xiaotong's mother was practical and capable so that she kept up with the trend of the times and became rich. However, Luo Xiaotong's father, Luo Tong, cannot "keep pace with the times" and finally killed his wife because he cannot bear the shame that his wife committed adultery with others. Then he was put into prison. Luo Xiaotong became an orphan. Ten years later, Luo Xiaotong got to a dilapidated Wutong Temple and tried to move the old monk and make the monk to take him as his student with his narration. Mo Yan tells us the stories of three generations: The first story is the story that a rural slaughter workshop was developed into a slaughter house in 1980s which Luo Xiaotong experienced himself; the second story is the entanglement among characters of his parental generation such as Laolan, his father Luo tong, his mother Luo Yunzheng, Yeluozi and his aunt.)