A model factory worker has a nervous breakdown due to the infernal production rate and productivity demands. Going slightly mad from the experience, the worker goes from hospital, to prison, and then finally unemployment. He is now a gear without purpose in the modern industrialized society. After a highly unusual, and somewhat criminal series of events, the worker runs off with an orphaned girl with the aim to find a way back into society. "Modern Times" is a thoughtful and harsh critique of the industrialization process that put people out of work and turned occupational burnout into a public health issue. It is arguably Chaplin’s funniest socially conscious feature, and remains one of his most-loved to date.