Lin Jianfeng, the only level-eight lathe operator at Northern Diesel Engine Factory, has godlike technical skills but is framed by a well-connected employee for damaging imported equipment. The factory director forces him to take the blame. In front of everyone, he snaps the cutting tool he has used for twenty years in two, declares his resolve with the broken tool, resigns, and leaves the factory. At forty-six, he rides his old twenty-eight-inch bicycle around looking for work all day. Large factories consider him too old, small factories cannot afford him, and CNC factories say his skills are outdated. Just as he falls into despair, the nearly bankrupt Zhenhua Machinery Factory takes him in. Everyone thinks he is finished. That is, until he uses a fifteen-year-discarded old lathe to achieve extreme precision, surpass German industrial standards through manual craftsmanship, and secure an exclusive international order.