“So soon as the time for ploughing is proclaimed to men, then make haste, you and your slaves alike.” Works and Days opens with this quote from Hesiod’s epic poem and makes the poem’s title its own. The film indeed portrays various workers who head to their workplaces as soon as the sun rises—they make mannequins, sort recycled plastics, prepare side dishes, sweep salt fields, inspect cans, and repair radios. The protagonists of Works and Days are ordinary people like us. As we listen to their intimate voices sharing their anxieties, joys, loneliness, fears, and dreams, we become deeply immersed in their lives. What stands out most about Works and Days is its clear and concise perspective on labor. Free of sentimentality, this pure, unembellished gaze offers a rare and precious insight.

20世纪50年代末，经历了长达半个多世纪的战火，古老的中华大地已进入解放后的第十个年头。位于永城县的高中内，生活着名叫杨小翼的美丽女孩，她为伍思民、刘世军等同龄男孩所爱慕，也遭以世军妹妹刘世晨等女孩的指摘嫉妒。年少不知愁滋味，而小翼始终想弄清自己亲生父亲的真实身份。偶然机缘，小翼在医院工作的母亲杨沪似乎从抗美援朝纪录片里瞥见丈夫的身影，她上京寻夫未果，小镇内却闹得风言风语，影响了母女二人的工作和学习。不久之后，刘家兄妹的父亲刘云石开赴小镇，他对杨家母女呵护有加，对小翼更视若己出。渴望父爱的小翼如愿以偿，而这突如其来的关爱也在父辈和年轻男女之间激起了时代的波澜。