Three separate stories tell of working-class life in Taiwan during the Cold War: A man makes his living carrying advertisement sandwich boards, two ambitious salesman discover too late that their product is defective, and a laborer is run down by a car while his family discovers a silver lining.

Based on texts by nativist writer Huang Chun-ming, this omnibus shaped the united political voice of the New Taiwanese Cinema’s early stages. With Taiwan’s self-identity crisis at the forefront of all three parts, the film is titled after vital filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien’s delicate segment.