Tras la muerte de su esposa, Henry Cobb (Poitier) es un hombre destrozado que ha perdido las ganas de vivir. Durante cincuenta años se ha dejado la piel fabricando los ladrillos con los que se ha construido la ciudad de Springfield. Pero, de repente, la oportunidad de mantener vivo el recuerdo de su mujer y rendirle un homenaje se le presenta en forma de contrato para fabricar los ladrillos destinados a reconstruir la biblioteca de la escuela, a la que su mujer dedicó su vida

Sam starts his first week as a helper at a brickyard. He got this job because his new boss is the chairman of the local football team for which he plays. He's a talented goalkeeper. There is much resemblance between Sam and Louis, a 65-year-old who is pottering through the last days before his retirement. They both react strongly to the illegal dumping practices of a firm from the city. But also their boss' hands do not seem to be entirely clean in this business. Will Sam sink into the rut and routine that Louis is rebelling against?

Jeffrey lives in a small Dutch town with his father and his girlfriend. He is about to become a dad. Working in the local brick factory, he gets to supervise newbee Kevin. When Kevin tries to become intimate with him, Jeffrey knocks him to the ground. Yet he can't seem to get Kevin out of his head and starts to question everything that he was once so sure of.

A documentary film about the history of brick production and its production in a modern brick factory.

During her first day at work in a brickworks near Antwerp at the beginning of the last century, a teenage girl first faces harassment by the boys who work there and then, at the end of the day, she is forced to allow the boss to exercise his "droit de seigneur".