The film is adapted from the writer Liang Xiaosheng 's novella "The Tired Man". The film follows the protagonist, Wang Junsheng from as an educated youth working in the city, to the formation of his family, and finally to him in middle age as a 46 year old small soy sauce factory deputy director.

The Thai government hires a group of Chinese mercenaries to capture a powerful drug lord from the Golden Triangle. The mercenaries manage to capture the drug lord, but soon find themselves pursued by his forces, and the forces of a bitter Thai officer. The Chinese mercenaries are vastly outnumbered, and as their numbers begin to dwindle, their desperation pulls them into a corner as their enemies close in on them.