Based on a theatrical text by Romanian writer Ion Luca Caragiale (1852-1912), who was a bitter and funny witness of the turn-of-the-20th-century Romanian bourgeois mores, Carnival Scenes manages to preserve and further enhance the slightly hysteric atmosphere of his plays. Pintilie creates a strange combination of carnival scenes which is brought to the screen as a burlesque, fast-paced, screwball comedy with a meditative undertone. This film was banned in Romania for a decade until the death of Ceausescu in 1989 and was only released after the 1989 revolution.

At a party with diverse guests are dealing with the events os August 23rd, 1944. Guests are serving as metaphors for different parts of society.

During the peasant uprising of 1888, Alecu Dumitru, a socialist, hides from police in the Nada Florilor island, next to a fishing village.

1848, Transylvania. Avram Iancu raises a peasant army to defend the rights of the Romanian ethnics, while Nicolae Bălcescu tries a diplomatic approach.