德山大叔（孙云昆 饰）生活在地处高原的国家级贫困县，他自己更是出了名的贫困户。这天，刘副县长（赵声林 饰）突然光临，临走留给他一些钱，这下可轰动了全村，贫穷了一辈子的德山被乡亲们刮目相看。村长（蒋志昆 饰）找到德山，交待他刘副县长托人送来两只外国引进的羊，让他好好饲养。结果德山全家人向供祖宗一样喂养着这俩宝贝，多日过去，羊没喂肥，连家中的一点积蓄也全搭进去了。县里记者前来采访，见诸报端后，各级领导都很满意，乡长（陈大江 饰）还专门转达了县领导意见，让他想办法让羊下崽，乡里为母羊成功怀孕还特唱大戏一天。不料，母羊临盆时，小羊夭折，这可急坏了乡长......

The film follows a peasant couple, Zhao Deshan and his wife Xiuzhi, living in rural Yunnan province near Zhaotong in southern China. Their lives are thrown into upheaval when the local mayor “rewards” them with two foreign sheep donated by a former villager, now an official in Beijing. The couple is then tasked with breeding the sheep for their wool and to bring prosperity to their small community. Much to their chagrin, the sheep do not take to their new environment and the couple are forced into ever more ingenious ways of making the sheep appear greater than they really are. As they do so, they also come to value the sheep as companions in their family. When it becomes clear that the two “great” sheep are not the boon they were thought to be, the local authorities repossess the animals.