In the early '60s, Mr. Lo, a silent shoemaker, lived with his family in a dead-end street in a working-class neighborhood. At the other end of the street, his brother worked as a barber. So they followed the precepts of their wise mother: if one earns on heads and the other on feet, they will never lose money. The shoemaker spent almost all the money he earned on his sons' education. The eldest son Desmond - an excellent student and school champion in obstacle courses, the youngest - an eight-year-old bandit nicknamed Eeyore - a thief, a cheat, a bully and the soul of the neighborhood. The complicated but happy life of Mr. Lo's family is overshadowed by the usual Hong Kong misfortunes of the time: cynical corruption, devastating typhoons, and the specter of communism, from which the shoemaker's potential customers have fled the city. The story is based on Alex Lo's own childhood, and the director looks at the characters, their troubles and happy moments from the bottom up, through the eyes of Eeyore, the main narrator.
