会计事务所的职员宋哲浩的工资还不足支付交通费,过着悲惨无比的生活。极度贫穷的生活迫使他的妹妹成了以美军为服务对象的妓女。影片通过从朝鲜到韩国的宋哲浩一家的生活,极为生动地描绘了50年代韩国社会的贫困和黑暗,反映了五十年代的韩国在美军管制下的社会生活。这部电影由于思想过于阴暗以及与敌对国朝鲜有关联曾被禁映,多年后才重见天日。A public accountant's salary is far too small for him to even get a cavity fixed, let alone support his family. However, he must somehow provide for his senile, shell-shocked mother, his malnurished, pregnant wife, a younger brother who won't work, his unmarried sister who is prostituting herself to foreigners for extra money, and two young children.