When the reform was first introduced in the early 1980's, the general public still had difficulties to face the fact because as private business owners, the stable job at state owned business is gone, along with it many of the benefits such as pension and medicare.
What needs to be noted here is that the welfare provided by Chinese state owned enterprise was rich during that time: the monthly pension after retirement is equal to the highest salary earned before the retirement and this continues until the death of the retiree. The medicare covers not only the workers and their kids, but also their parents, and this coverage continues after the retirement. Free housing and childcare was also provided to workers. All of this would be lost if you leave the state owned enterprise to become a private business owner, you are out on your own and putting your family members at risk. This of course made people weary about the future of their kids if the kids were about to marry a private business owner.
This film describes the struggles of parents facing the reality of their daughter's boyfriend is a private business owner, and it is a vanguard of advocating the reform.
