Lin Wanqiu runs a small shrimp-peeling workshop, sticking to her policy of paying 1.5 yuan per jin, with wages settled on the spot. Dissatisfied with the low rate, her fellow workers turn to Donghai Cold Storage, which offers 2.5 yuan per jin. But behind the higher pay, deductions keep piling up, the accounts become increasingly confusing, and their hands suffer from prolonged exposure to water. Lin Wanqiu tries to warn and stop them, but nobody listens. Only when someone collapses does she bring out the ledger she has been keeping for a long time. Whose life, exactly, is recorded in those accounts?