The nostalgic account of the lives of the Beijing working class residing in the ghetto-ish quad-court from the late 60s to the early 90s. The stories are told around a frank and outspoken factory canteen chef nicknamed "Shazhu" (dumb pole), a widowed single mother of 3 young children, who eventually become Shazhu's wife, a cunning and snobbish theatre projectionist who is Shazhu's life long foe, as well as the various characters inside and outside the old quad-court, as they navigate through the Cultural Revolution, the economic reform, and the blooming 90s.—nightimerunner