Political activist Hyun-woo is released from prison after a 17-year stint. Journeying back to the village where he spent some time as a fugitive he recalls the time spent with Yoon-hee, a woman who gave him shelter and companionship.

Young-ae is a prostitute who obsesses over money after losing her daughter to illness. Her co-workers are jealous of her. When a prostitute named Mrs. Kangwon dies after giving a birth, Young-ae takes the baby under her care and leaves the brothel district. Although she struggles to make ends meet and provide a home for the child, the child is taken away by the authorities because she is single. She decides that her old life is the only ground for living she has and returns to it.

Beginning with the suicide of a film director, this work represents the Korean New Wave Cinema movement that focused on criticizing the Korean society in the 1980s through satire and humor. The journey taken by the characters, who lead low lives at the margins of the society, award them with a sense of liberation, however brief.

Il-bong was utterly defeated as a wrestling athlete. He decides against returning to his hometown and stays in Seoul. As he wanders the street, going from job to job, someone recommends him to become an actor. But the acting roles that are waiting Il-bong are in adult movies. At the set, Il-bong meets Ae-ja and falls in love with her. They give up the adult films and Ae-ja gets pregnant. Because they are desperately poor, Ae-ja has a miscarriage and Il-bong curses his incompetence. The two decide to part for one year. During that time, Il-bong becomes a male prostitute and makes a ferocious amount of money. But he has become tough without realizing it. After the year is over, Il-bong goes to their promised meeting place but Ae-ja is nowhere to be seen. Il-bong wails to the city.

Passing through a jail and a construction site, a young laborer meets a middle-aged man returning to Sampo after ten years' absence. Together, they track down a young woman who ran away from the restaurant she was waitressing at, but instead of turning her in for a reward, the trio decide to go on an adventure together.