The true story of a band of laid-off workers from state-owned companies who set out to risk their own fortunes in the private sector and then find out that success ain't what it used to be. After getting laid-off from a state-owned shipbuilder, a middle-aged worker uses all of his savings, borrows some money, and then convinces a group of friends who are in similar circumstances, to join him in an apartment decoration/construction business in Shanghai.