A young peasant named Yasui needs a fortune to save his younger brother, Yachung, who is in prison. Since Yasui is a poor day laborer, he has no way of making enough money to bail out his brother. Then, a pastor and a high school principal in his town suggest he send his younger sister out to a city to earn. Yasui follows the suggestion and also makes a contract to even sell his unborn child. But, as Yachung is sentenced to death, Yasui′s family suffers both financial and mental collapse. The modernity described in this film is a product of the conspiracy that capitalism and religion inspire-interestingly, both encourage blind faith. The first son′s traditional duty to protect his siblings and preserve the family bloodline becomes something to be traded on. The Christianity that greatly values Divine Providence and the generosity of Jesus only serves to conceal the fatal cycle of this trade. The bureaucrats of China only sit back and watch. At a dramatic moment, the camera calmly captures the characters with a long shot and makes them look much smaller, set against a background of a wide field, which successfully conveys the bleakness that Yasui and his family feel. The long shot that first captures an empty room and then continues to another scene overlooking a boat vividly depicts the tragedy of a lower class character whose life is totally devastated. (Kim Ji-hoon)