Fifty kilometres North-West of Beijing, there is a mountain region very rich in granite. Because of the fast urban expansion, the government has employed many peasant farmers to work in the quarries. They arrive there from all corners of the country in order to work, cut and carry huge blocks of rock that will be used to pave roads and build new edifices in the towns. Shot over several seasons, this documentary film deals with the four main characters, all belonging to the same family, that struggle every day against cold, heat, rain and snow and the effort that is required of them to cut the granite in the most accurate way. Away from their homes and families, they share what they have. They cook, sleep and live together in a small shed, until a government inspection decides the work in the quarry has to stop, thus leaving all the workers unemployed and without a future.