When the last factory in a small Rust Belt town closes, the quiet, obedient Allery Parkes emerges as an unlikely hero. The old Allery, who has worked at the factory his entire life, cannot reconcile how to live a life of inactivity at home. Contrary to the advise and pleadings of his devoted wife Iola, he creates an improbable friendship with his dynamic neighbor Walter Brewer in order to resurrect the moribund factory.