《三十里鋪》是陜北經(jīng)典民歌。編劇蘭一斐說(shuō)，很多人唱這首民歌，但不一定知道這首歌曲背后的故事。該劇改編歷時(shí)十余年，故事發(fā)生在1939至1942年間的陜北綏德三十里鋪。當(dāng)時(shí)日軍已侵占山西，保衛(wèi)黃河之戰(zhàn)如火如荼。綏德縣屬國(guó)共兩黨的共管區(qū)，國(guó)共兩黨成員、日軍特務(wù)、土匪，以及趕牲靈的駝隊(duì)、騾隊(duì)和腳戶挑夫等經(jīng)常往來(lái)歇息于三十里鋪的騾馬店。在動(dòng)蕩不安紛繁復(fù)雜的環(huán)境中，四妹子和三哥哥為了愛情、生存、革命都做出了巨大的努力，留下絕唱《三十里鋪》。

　　北宋真宗年間，太平盛世下暗潮涌動(dòng)，野心勃勃的襄王趙慶（于震 飾）設(shè)下膽大包天的計(jì)謀，企圖以貍貓換取皇帝的血脈。金槍值甲班軍頭包鐵山（張子健 飾）率眾拼死保衛(wèi)太子和李娘娘，力挽大廈于將傾。包括包鐵山在內(nèi)，無(wú)數(shù)人死于連番的內(nèi)亂之中，只為保護(hù)太子還朝，粉碎襄王的陰謀。轉(zhuǎn)眼又過(guò)三十年，大宋江山落入太后之手，西夏時(shí)時(shí)覬覦中原，襄王之子更圖謀復(fù)仇，內(nèi)憂外患，風(fēng)云突變。值此機(jī)緣，包鐵山之子包拯（張子健 飾）開始嶄露頭角。他為官清廉，剛正不阿，令權(quán)貴豪強(qiáng)膽顫，使元元黎首心歡，此外更有展昭（淳于珊珊 飾）等江湖豪杰相助。
　　明鏡高堂之上，包大人將書寫一段又一段千古傳奇……

　　1937年，盧溝橋事變，抗日戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)全面爆發(fā)。方振東與萬(wàn)子卿都參加了北平守軍的學(xué)兵團(tuán)。血戰(zhàn)中，倆人成為摯友，并同時(shí)愛上了潼關(guān)杜家的大小姐杜蘭云。然而方、萬(wàn)兩家卻交惡數(shù)百年。大敵當(dāng)前，方振東，萬(wàn)子卿努力化解兩家恩怨，共同抗日。日軍兵抵潼關(guān)，杜蘭云為救方振東，謊稱自己懷了方振東的孩子并決心嫁給方振東。之后在與日軍的一場(chǎng)血戰(zhàn)中，萬(wàn)子卿只身歸來(lái)，方振東“戰(zhàn)死疆場(chǎng)”。此時(shí)杜蘭云已經(jīng)懷了方振東的孩子。萬(wàn)子卿得知后，主動(dòng)表示愿意做這個(gè)孩子的父親。就在二人預(yù)備重結(jié)連理時(shí)，卻赫然發(fā)現(xiàn)方振東并沒有死。最終，民族大義化解了愛恨恩怨。

　　九一八事變，東北淪陷。碧蓮父親趙義生和白千山、老師江楓積極組織抗日武裝行動(dòng)，幫助地方抗日力量一起炸毀了日滿鐵路，碧蓮家因此慘遭日軍血洗，父親犧牲。碧蓮與姐姐碧荷逃難途中，碧荷落入匪手，后被抗日義士洪飛相救。碧蓮與同學(xué)白蘭為抗日救國(guó)報(bào)考了南京陸軍學(xué)校。后在參加國(guó)民黨的鋤奸行動(dòng)時(shí)，遭到汪偽漢奸的迫害，江楓為救碧蓮而跳崖。痛苦中的碧蓮毅然投奔了延安。兩年后，碧蓮回東北發(fā)展抗日武裝，巧遇失散多年的姐姐抗日女杰碧荷，碧荷拉隊(duì)伍投奔了東北抗日聯(lián)軍。跳崖未死的江楓回長(zhǎng)春配合蘇聯(lián)紅軍進(jìn)攻，部署武裝奪取日軍要塞。在戰(zhàn)斗中碧蓮姐妹壯烈犧牲，蘇聯(lián)紅軍順利通過(guò)要塞。

　　余英男從小生活在小小村，她和哥哥余英奇都有著各自的秘密。英男并不知道她是被哥哥撿回家的女孩，因?yàn)樗チ四晟贂r(shí)的記憶。而英奇的族人火黎族一直以醫(yī)術(shù)救人，卻因功法缺陷被江湖中人誤解，族人們只能隱居小小村。英男以為自己十八歲生日那天遇到的蒼墟大弟子白谷逸是夢(mèng)中的大英雄。英男為了追求愛情，想上蒼墟派學(xué)武，卻錯(cuò)上蜀山。歷盡波折之后，才恍然大悟，原來(lái)一路默默守護(hù)的英奇不是親哥哥，英奇才是最值得自己深愛的人。哥哥英奇為了拯救自己被誤解的族人，要尋找到江湖至寶赤魂石，英男卻是那身懷赤魂石之人。英奇被白谷逸重傷，英男孤注一擲，借赤魂石之力救助英奇。白谷逸假正道之名企圖滅掉火黎族，一場(chǎng)惡戰(zhàn)，英奇最終還是與白谷逸同歸于盡。英男繼承英奇遺志，獨(dú)自一人行走江湖，懸壺濟(jì)世。

　　During the summer, Pacey and Audrey rocked Los Angeles and spent time with her next door neighbors, the Osbournes, and Jack Osbourne even tags along with them to interview at Worthington. Jen spent her time in New York and got ecstatic to learn her parents are separating. Jack got dumped by Eric, but got over it. Joey spent her summer in Capeside doing a lot of reading, working and romancing. On their first week back at Boston Bay College, Jen is shocked to run into find that Grams Ryan has decided to go back to school. At Worthington, Joey experiences nothing but bad luck when she decides to enroll in an intermediate writing class taught by the liberal, but manipulative and cynical, Professor Greg Heston who does not hesitate to ridicule and embarrass Joey in front of the class with her lack of knowledge of the current book topic. Pacey and Jack move out of Grams' house and Pacey tries to get the perfect apartment, owned by a feisty, punk rock British woman, named Emma Jones, who works as a waitress in the local bar Hell's Kitchen. Also, Dawson is working on a new movie, a horror film titled "Wicked Dead" with him as the assistant director and the hack Todd Carr as director. When he finally gets together with Joey, he is the only one to have remembered her 20th birthday.

　　Joey begins her first day at Worthington University where she is struggling in her beginners writing class taught by Professor David Wilder who criticizes her first essay about her and Dawson. Audrey Liddell, Joey's brash new roommate from Beverly Hills, proves to be more of an annoyance than a friend with her wild and crazy personality. Dawson, who's continuing his studies at USC with an internship in Hollywood, begins his job on a shaky start when he meets Todd Carr, an arrogant, egocentric, hack film director who gives Dawson a hard time. Meanwhile, Jen pays Pacey a visit, who's lying low as he docks his yacht in Boston Harbor after sailing away the summer. At nearby Boston Bay College, Jen and Jack are invited to their first fraternity party. They persuade Joey to come along with Audrey who seems to get along with Jen and Jack, much to Joey's surprise. Also, Jen meets Charlie, a bass player. She is rude to him, insulting him away, but deep inside feels strongly attracted to him.

　　After spending the summer with his mother in Philadelphia, Dawson returns to Capeside and meets a beautiful, outgoing, young woman, named Eve Whitman, on the bus from Philadelphia. Eve soon brings trouble to Dawson's ho-hum life when he accidentally wrecks his father's boat during an outing with her and tries to come up with $3,000 to repair it before Mitch finds out. So, Eve helps out by throwing a rave party at the Leery house with strippers from the club she works at. Meanwhile, Joey, who has frozen Dawson out all summer for forcing her to rat out her father, realizes that she still has feelings for him again when they meet during the first day back at Capeside High as juniors. While working at the Capeside Marina, Joey deals with the come-ons from her sexist boss Rob Logan. Jen gets more than she bargained for when she tries out for Capeside High's cheer leading squad and faces off in a war-of-wits against the mean-spirited head cheerleader, and acquires her position. Also, Mitch gets a new job as Capeside High's varsity football coach, and a new charismatic, but very stern, principal, named Howard Green, arrives to administrate the school.