Anna is in the third year of middle school and living with her mother and elder brother. In a desolate steel factory city, she hangs out with her best friend Francesca. Her elder brother, who is a factory worker, meets his ex-girlfriend again while Anna falls in love with her brother's friend. Francesca however goes a completely different way. <Steel> deals with the growth pains suffered by teenage girls from the working class and the love/hate relationships that the characters have with work. Uniquely atmospheric, the film's story balances its characters on the cusp of adulthood, where the two girls' friendship is as delicate, as close and as strong as the romantic love between a boy and a girl. But neither can it last. Time is running out and when one of them finds a boyfriend, everything seems to change. This emotional upheaval is highlighted by the dead-end possibilities of their futures, where their environment leaves them little choice but to take up work at the factory when the time comes. (RHEE, Soue-won)