故事发生在美国，此时的美国经济萧条，无数工人失业，生活陷入困顿之中，而资本家对工人的剥削却丝毫不减。查理是一家钢铁厂的工人，他的工作就拧螺丝。只要机器一开，他的双手就无法停下来，像个机器一样重复着拧螺丝的工作，哪怕苍蝇飞到脸上也腾不出手来驱赶。以至于停止工作后双手还不由自主地机械地重复着拧螺丝的动作。然而老板仍然不满足，甚至在厕所里也安装了监控，对工人的压榨到了极致

更令人瞠目的是有人发明了喂饭机，可自动给人喂食，让人一边工作一边吃饭。查理不幸地被当作试验品，受到悲惨待遇。重压之下，查理精神崩溃，看着什么都像螺丝，拿着扳手到处拧螺丝，被送进了精神病院。出院后的查理在街上流浪，捡到一面旗子晃动着，被误认为是罢工领袖，大批失业工人紧跟其后，他又被警察送进了监狱。在监狱里的查理阴差阳错救了监狱长和看守，过上了优哉游哉的日子……

The story takes place in the United States. At this time, the American economy is in depression, countless workers are unemployed, and their lives are in trouble, but the capitalists do not exploit the workers at all. reduce. Charlie is a worker in a steel factory, and his job is to turn screws. As long as the machine is turned on, his hands can't stop, repeating the work of screwing screws like a machine, even if flies fly to his face, he can't free his hands to drive them away. So much so that after stopping work, both hands can't help mechanically repeating the action of screwing. However, the boss was still dissatisfied, and even installed monitoring in the toilet, which squeezed the workers to the extreme

What is even more astonishing is that someone invented a feeding machine, which can automatically feed people, allowing people to eat while working. Unfortunately, Charlie was used as a test subject and was treated miserably. Under the heavy pressure, Charlie had a nervous breakdown. He looked at everything like a screw, and he took a wrench to twist the screws everywhere, and was sent to a mental hospital. After being discharged from the hospital, Charlie was wandering on the street, picked up a flag waving, and was mistaken for a strike leader, followed by a large number of unemployed workers, and he was sent to prison by the police. Charlie in the prison rescued the warden and guards by mistake, and lived a leisurely life...