[1] The story follows Soo-sam, a farmer who moves to Seoul to work as a rickshaw driver.

He is imprisoned for stealing money to cover his wife's hospital expenses.

Disheartened, Soo-sam returns to his village with his daughter and takes up work as a ferry boat operator.

With their home destroyed by fire and his daughter killed, Soo-sam's ferry boat remains as the "ownerless ferryboat" mentioned in the title.

This was cut by governmental censors because, as Lee says, "to axe the bridge was to describe the anger of the Korean people against the Japanese occupation.