Lee Yong-go is a father with a disability of a six-year-old who lives in a rundown house with his daughter Ye-Seung. One day, he got into trouble with a police commissioner, who just bought the last sailor-moon briefcase for his daughter. It was a present that Yong-go tried to save money to buy for Ye-Seung. Soon after, the police commissioner's daughter dies in a bizarre accident in which she skates on ice and suffers a fatal blow in the back of her head while she is taking Yong-go to another store. sell similar backpacks. When he was trying to save her, a woman witnessed and misunderstood that he was harassing her. Yong-go is falsely accused of kidnapping, murdering, and raping minors. The police quickly took advantage of his disability and forced him to admit his crime, while ignoring his immunity. Yong-go is detained and transferred to Cell No. 7, the toughest cell in a maximum-security prison. At first, the other men in the cell, led by So Yang-ho, mistreated Yong-go after reading in his file thinking he murdered and harassed a child. However, when Yong-go saves Yang-ho from an attack by a rival gang, Yang-ho responds by secretly sending Ye-Seung into cell 7. Yong-go and believes that he's a good man, it's just that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. They help Yong-go practice for his trial. Eventually, even the head of the prison, Jang Min-hwan, who was initially harsh to Yong-go, calms down after being saved by Yong-go from a fire, realizes that Yong-go is only merely forced to confess guilt. He takes care of Ye-Seung and allows her to visit her father every afternoon. However, the police commissioner threatens Yong-go that Ye-Seung will not be safe if he does not confess his "guilt" in court and receives the death penalty. In the end, he sacrificed himself, receiving the death penalty on December 23, which coincides with Ye-Seung's birthday. Before that day, Yong-go's friends in prison built a hot air balloon so that Yong-go and Ye-Seung could watch the sunset together one last time. Years after Yong-go's death penalty was executed, Ye-seung, who was adopted by Min-hwan, became a lawyer. She gathered old friends in her father's prison, all of whom were released, to testify for the final retrial. The retrial is successful and Yong-go is cleared of charges. She then visits Cell 7 and reminisces about their balloon trip. The film drew 4.6 million people (more than 30 million US dollars) in its first two weeks due to the power of word of mouth. Despite the release of The Berlin File, the film attracted 15% more viewers by its third week, with 75.8% reservations. 32 days after its premiere, it became the eighth film in the history of Korean cinema to break the 10 million mark in ticket sales, which is especially notable because of Miracle in Cell No. 7 has no big stars and a modest budget with 1.7 million hits, making the final profit the highest of any movie at 10 million. The film surpassed 12 million viewers after 46 days of release. On March 15, 2013, 52 days after its premiere, ticket sales reached 12.32 million, making it the fifth highest-grossing Korean film of all time. Analysts say among the reasons for its success are the Lunar New Year holidays and families will watch movies in groups. The series proved to be especially popular among middle-aged and old Koreans.
