Made famous in 1908 for producing the first Model T, Detroit’s car factories once earned it the nickname “Motor City.” Now a century has passed, and Detroit is watching her assembly plants close—except the stamping plant where Faye, Dez, Shanita, and Reggie make their living. Faye is a tough-as-nails factory veteran; fifty years old and chain smoking in the face of breast cancer, she looks out for and picks on her mid-20s co-workers with both severity and fondness. Shanita is a hard-working, forthright, pregnant young woman who takes pride in the fact that her hands create powerful machines. Dez is as playful as he is stubborn, perpetually flirting with Shanita and gambling his way to his dream: enough money to open his own car shop. Reggie is their dedicated foreman, balancing the demands of his white-collar management status with a fierce loyalty to the workers he has spent his life working alongside.
In the break room where these strong personalities mix, games of trust, deception, and fear play out as rumors of the plant’s closure grow. After reports of repeated theft from the factory, one of Reggie and Dez’s regular arguments escalates into an ugly confrontation. Despite years of close adherence to the rules, Shanita begins to break a few. Faye, working to keep the peace and the four of them together, finds herself isolated and reduced to a fraction of her former might. As the chips fall and the characters gamble for their futures, the same questions surface for each: when push comes to shove, do I save my own skin? What am I worth beyond my income? And who is to blame when my job disappears?