Low Life

In 1323, a ship carrying 8,000 gold coins and 20,000 valuable Chinese ceramic pots sank in the Yellow Sea. Treasure hunters recovered many pots over the years, but the gold was never found. In the 1970s, small-time crooks Gwan-seok and his nephew Hee-dong serve time in prison, where they befriend an antique dealer named Song Gi-taek. Inside, they run a smuggling scheme, and after their release in 1977, Gi-taek offers them a deal: salvage the remaining ceramics near Sinan in exchange for substantial payment. Gwan-seok discovers Gi-taek intends to underpay them and also plans to mix counterfeit ceramics with genuine ones to cheat Chairman Chun Hwang-sik of Heungbaek Industries, who wants the antiques to launder money while building a university. Gwan-seok forces Gi-taek to raise their payout, and Gi-taek introduces his nephew Na Dae-sik as supervisor, though he proves incompetent. Hwang-sik's wife, Yang Jung-sook, suspicious of the operation, sends her aide Im Jeon-chul to oversee it. The group bases their operation in Mokpo with Gi-taek's contact, Mr. Ha Yeong-soo, and hires a captain, Hwang Tae-san, despite Gwan-seok's distrust of his police ties. As various factions—including the fraudster Professor Kim—compete for the treasure, Gwan-seok demands more money, forcing Gi-taek to order additional counterfeit pots. Jung-sook later reveals she knows Gi-taek's scam and will only pay high prices for real ceramics, weakening Gi-taek's profits. Meanwhile, she begins an affair with Hee-dong. As Hwang-sik's health deteriorates, Jung-sook manipulates him into worsening his condition to seize his assets. During a salvage dive, a crew member suffers a collapsed lung and is later drowned by Gwan-seok and Tae-san to avoid sharing profits. Gi-taek, desperate after being cut out by Jung-sook, proposes a new deal, but tensions escalate. The crew eventually uncovers the full shipwreck and retrieves a large haul of ceramics. During the chaotic struggle for control, Gwan-seok and Tae-san kill Jeon-chul, angering Jung-sook. She obtains Hwang-sik's seal, only to discover Heungbaek Industries is deeply in debt. After Hwang-sik unexpectedly recovers and exposes her theft, she suffers a miscarriage. Song tricks Kim's gang into stealing counterfeit pots meant for Hwang-sik, but Kim survives an explosion that kills his men. Hee-dong betrays all sides, fleeing with most of the ceramics and the local girl he loves. Kim hunts down Gi-taek's remaining associates and kills them. As Hwang-sik is arrested for corporate crimes, his first wife hires Gwan-seok to kill Jung-sook. Hee-dong meets Jung-sook, who proposes selling the remaining real pots and splitting the profits, but Gwan-seok intercepts them. At a cliff side confrontation, Jung-sook fights with the first wife, who falls to her death. A truck filled with pots falls over the cliff, seemingly killing Gwan-seok, and Jung-sook is later murdered by the first wife's surviving henchman. A year later, Hee-dong lives quietly in Seoul. Gwan-seok, having survived and salvaged some ceramics, shares the profits with Hee-dong and resumes treasure hunting with a new crew.