Three young men face the university entrance exams upon which their economic and social fates depend. Kim Tae-Moo is a comic book artist whose art is plagiarized even as he's humiliated at school, at work, and then in the army. Cho Sein, plagued by a drunken father, wants to be a hairdresser and is the victim of gay bashing and chicken hawks. The overweight, phlegmatic, and cowardly Kong Seungho lives to eat and watch videos. The film dramatizes their friendship, their family lives, and the crushing reality of the limited opportunities Korean society offers them.