The story of How Steel was Tempered revolves around the protagonist Pavel Colta King. Paul was born in a working family in Ukraine. My father died early, my mother washed and cooked for others, and my brother was a worker. When he was in primary school, the priest punished him unreasonably. He sprinkled soot on dough in the priest's kitchen and was expelled from school. In order to make a living, Paul began to work as a waiter in the station canteen.

When the October Revolution broke out, an old Bolshevik Zhu stayed in Paul's house for a few days and told him many revolutionary truths, which made him understand the social causes of life inequality, which played a decisive role in Paul's ideological growth. One day, Paul saw a bandit soldier walking with He Zhu at the crossroads. He jumped on him, hugged the escort and rescued Zhu He. Paul was put in prison and tortured, but he didn't reveal any revolutionary secrets. Soon, he was misplaced by the enemy and hid in Tonya's house. Tonia is the daughter of a local forestry official. Once, she saw Paul severely reprimand the son of an unreasonable railway factory owner and fell in love with the stubborn and brave worker's son. They gradually developed feelings.

Later, Tonya expressed her feelings to Paul, but Paul did not indulge in personal feelings. He joined the Red Army. In the Red Army, Paul read many revolutionary books, and his ideological consciousness improved rapidly. The distance between Miss tonia and him is getting farther and farther, and Paul resolutely broke off this feeling. At work, Paul established real love with the excellent party member Lida, but he thought Lida had a lover and didn't want to fall into vulgar love competition, so he avoided it. Later, although the misunderstanding was eliminated, Paul thought that revolutionaries should fully devote themselves to their own careers and not dwell on trivial personal feelings, so he restrained himself and interrupted his feelings with Rita. Due to many injuries on the battlefield and selfless work and labor, Paul's illness worsened and he completely lost his ability to work. The party organization had to terminate his work and send him to the hospital for treatment. In order to return to work, Paul fought tenaciously against illness, but he was almost paralyzed, then he became blind and had to lie in a hospital bed all day.