At a Shanghai apartment, Mr Hou, a Nationalist official, gets ready to move to Taiwan upon the imminent defeat of the KMT during the Civil War. Mrs Hou gives an ultimatum to the rest of the tenants to move out on behalf of her husband, who is the "owner" of the flat and who is now planning to sell it. From the conversations with the rest, we find out that Hou has been a Hanjian during the Sino-Japanese War and that he has since taken over the apartment by force from the old landlord, Mr Kong. The tenants, including Mr Kong, Mrs Xiao, Little Broadcast (alias Mr Xiao, played by Zhao Dan) and a schoolteacher, Mr Hua, and his wife, initially plan to band together, but circumstances force them to find other ways out. Mr Hua tries to find a place to stay at the KMT-sponsored school he is teaching in. Little Broadcast and Mrs Xiao invest in black market gold. As the situation escalates, Mr Hua gets arrested by KMT agents and his young daughter falls desperately ill.
as Little Broadcast/Boss Xiao
as Mr. Kong
as Lao Liu
as Mr. Hou
as Principal
as Lao Zhao
as Ruffian
as Doctor
as Mrs. Hao
as Mrs. Hua
as Mrs. Xiao
as Teacher Hua
as Hsiao Ah Mei
as Lao Wei
as Da Mao
as Assistant Manager Hu
as Female visitor
as Man handing out bread
as Director Li
as Wei Yu
as Spy 1
