The film opens with a caption 'Profiles of people linked by one place of work - their factory' which is followed by a series of black and white stills of people featured in the series.
We are introduced to 58-year-old Fred Mitchell who works in the Sturmey Archer gears subsidiary of the Raleigh cycle factory in Nottingham.
Fred has worked for Raleigh for 32 years and is a senior shop steward for the Amalgamated Engineering Workers Union (AEW).
We see Fred at work at a lathe in the machine shop. With a voice over he describes his early life in the town of Bolsover, his career as a miner and time spent in the Grenadier Guards.
Throughout the film we see Fred attending meetings with the Raleigh management in his role as a shop steward as well as a meeting with a factory foreman, at a works committee meeting and Fred chairing an evening meeting of the AEW Union. His voice over describes in detail his trade union work and the resulting demands on his time.
Fred is also seen: at home with his (unnamed) wife; swimming at Beechdale Baths in Nottingham; eating poached egg on toast in his kitchen and out jogging.
We also see more shots of the factory floor at Raleigh where workers are seen making components from tubes in the forge and then press work and assembling of small parts to make Sturmey Archer gears. There are also shots of female workers assembling bicycle chains by hand. The manufacturing sections either have a voice over from Fred commenting on the monotonous nature of the work or are set to music.
Finally we see Fred at home with his new baby grand-daughter and his voice over describes his work/life balance.
Camera: Gerry Pinches
Sound: John L. Marshall; Colin Martin
Production Assistant: Helga Dowie
Editor: Kevin Lester
Associate Producer: Steve Timmins
Executive Producer: Brian Lewis
Director: Richard Key
Production number 7254/80.