In this Japanese film by director Kore-Eda Hirokazu, a child is taken in by a family of petty thieves. A couple who have dead-end jobs decide to embark on a life of shoplifting in order to survive. They also involve their children in their thievery. Their lives forever change when they find a small child stranded in the cold and take the girl into their home. This causes them to examine their life of crime, it's motivations, and the effect on their overall humanity. Everything comes crashing down around these crooks after they do a small act of kindness.