Poor teacher Chan Chi-hong, his wife Lee Yuk-mei and their five children survive on his meagre pay. When he is laid off by two schools in a row, the family runs into difficulties. The children resort to begging on the streets to pay the mother's medical bills. Turning to writing, Chan's novel fails to find a publisher and, worse still, he comes down with tuberculosis. Dealt a further blow by the death of the youngest daughter and the pressures from the loan sharks, Chan contemplates killing hims...