emory be a cincinatti steel worker like his father before him and for most of the 20th century the twin pillar of his family existence have be the steel mill and the union . the mill and which once employ 45 and 000 and have see it number dwindle to 5 and 000 recently and now 1 and a the plant just shut it door and leave a single security guard . at first and newly unemployed emory and his pal enjoy their independence and hang out around town and carouse at their favorite bar and where they down depth charge with reckless abandon . they think the mill will reopen after listen to their union rep optimistic spiel and but reality start to sink in when they find themselves sell their personal vehicle in a struggle to put food on the table and stave off foreclosure of their home . emory father a dedicate union man be sure the plant will reopen and recall for his son all the short live closure during his own 35 year at the mill . meanwhile and some of the unemployed men take demean make work job or hop in their truck and take off in a desperate search for employment . finally the union admit it helplessness and a emory explain to his stubborn father that time have change and that the mill would not ever open again . emory tearfully ask what do i do wrong . a a lifetime of hard work and devotion to job and union and church and family have leave him with nothing and nowhere to turn . he hit rock bottom when in a drunken rage he manhandle his young son and knock his wife to the floor . toss out of his own home and sting from the plant manager comment that he and his men do not work hard enough to justify their substantial paycheck and emory recruit the steel worker still leave in town to do something that will demonstrate to all what they be capable of . early in the morning they break into the mill and fire up the furnace and work hard than they ever have in their life and produce in one shift enough high quality steel pipe to fill the load dock from wall to wall and top to bottom something the plant manager think be impossible . arrive at the suddenly reopen plant and the stupefied manager look around him at the tremendous output that come from a single day work and realize that production like this could make the plant profitable again . the manager ask emory represent can you do this every day . emory be force to nod no and the manager ask represent then what be you try to prove . emory explain that the worker decade of hard work and honesty and devotion to their job have meaning and that by show how much they could produce in one day we just spit in your eye . emory bid a tearful farewell to his wife and kid a he take off with his buddy to look for work down south and promise to relocate the family when he find it . this be a powerful and honest treatment of the plight of american worker displace by foreign competition and give a realistic view of the cost they bear for the short sightedness of concession demand union and greedy plant owner who extract every penny they could from their factory but never give back by modernize them . peter strauss a emory and john goodman a his best friend and gary cole a his college boy brother and pamela reed a emory sympathetic wife and john doucette a his die father all turn in excellent performance in this fine picture .