It is based on the semi-autobiographical novel Chi to Hone by Zainichi Korean author Yan Sogiru (Yang Seok-il).

[2] The film was nominated for 12 Japanese Academy Awards and won four, including Best Actress, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Screenplay.

In 1923, the young Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island (Korea under Japanese rule), to Osaka (Japan).

[3] Through the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko (processed seafood products) in his poor Korean-Japanese community, where he exploits his employees.

The film is told from the perspective of Masao, his legitimate son by his abused and degraded wife, who knows nothing about his father other than to fear him.