In post-Ceausescu Bucharest, everybody is struggling to make a living. Vasile Potop, a movie theatre manager, tries to find money for an abortion for his wife Carolina, because he cannot afford to raise three kids. He tries to borrow from his attractive ticket seller Stela, but she quits the theatre and becomes a hooker. He then tries to sell his copy of Ceausescu's book that was not destroyed in the revolution, but that leads him into all kinds of trouble.