To earn enough money for college, a high school graduate takes a grueling factory job. He expects his only takeaway from the work to be a paycheck, but a mysterious coworker teaches him about the world and his place in it.

An unemployed man struggles to help an equally penniless, yet shockingly beautiful, young woman in her search for food and shelter.

A Native American ex-convict finally lands a job at a doughnut shop, but a betrayal by a co-worker leads him to consider whether or not the job is worth the discrimination.

The laborers at a gas plant use all means to evade company rules and withdraw their money as they please.

A manager at a railroad electrifying company reluctantly takes on a man who is being abused by his wife, allowing him to try his best at the job and earn some money. Unfortunately, the man’s hard work is soon eclipsed by his wife’s brutality.

An aging factory worker faces a jarring surprise at work months before his retirement. As capitalism chugs along, employees get caught in its cogs.

When a tragedy occurs at a construction site on Good Friday, the devout foreman's religion fails to save him or his men.

A woman gets a new job sewing pockets and distractedly ponders her love for her brother, all while under the watchful eye of her overseer at the factory.

A male at a wood chopping factory takes on a nervous new female apprentice but he becomes frustrated with her inability to be safe and efficient.

After World War II, a young woman takes a job working at on oilfield in a desert on the west coast. Once there, she struggles to fit in with her coworkers and can't help but feel out of place in this unfamiliar environment.