Forging a Family in Steel

After her father dies in the line of duty, six-year-old Jodi Linden (later renamed Rhea Joel) and her mother, Susan Sullivan, are mercilessly abandoned by her grandmother. They are sold for two thousand yuan to Joel, a disfigured and lame worker from the Steel Mill. In a scrap yard at the west end of the mill, the three go from being distant strangers to relying on and redeeming one another, forging a warm and solid home amidst the smoke of the steel furnace and the trials of time.