The housing shortage, corruption in high places, and misplaced official optimism are the targets of this lively and sometimes humorous look at contemporary Chinese urban life. Six families are crowded into temporary quarters, their hallway doubling as a communal kitchen, while they await new apartments. As they watch funds for same being diverted to luxurious quarters for government functionaries and impressive hotels for tourists, they become discouraged and, eventually, mobilized. A realistic depiction of social classes and inner-class tensions, of generation and gender gaps is woven into the chain of anecdotes that makes up the storyline. Leading the cast of characters is Liu Lixing, an ex-cadre who still has connections and who takes up the cause of his neighbors.