In 1900, Stepha, the vivacious 30 year old daughter of a wealthy couple, agrees to marry her cousin Paul, who has accumulated large debts as an Austrian army officer. Paul refuses to work or to consummate the marriage, and then his health steadily declines.
When a noted professor receives a new treatment for his heart ailment, his outlook on life changes. Despite doctor's orders, he is determined to live out his final days on his own terms and fulfill his fantasies. He saves the life of a young woman who tries to kill herself after his recovery from heart surgery in this symbolic story of a man trying to determine his own fate in his last days alive.
The car thief Halama, the shy groom Poupě, the divorcing jealous Pic and the mustachioed cinema projectionist Vlk are suspected of robbing the cinema box office. They are so similar, however, that the sharp-witted Public Security investigator Doll doesn't know them at all...
