Czech literature teacher Josef Tkaloun, who is past retirement age, realises one day that he no longer understands his pupils, and so he quits… dramatically. What he does not predict is that in doing this he will lose his sense of place in society.

A four-story omnibus depicting different Czech slices-of-life from the titular city.

The dramatization of the novel depicts a period when the patriarchal way of life in Russia was coming to an end and the aristocratic-landowner world, with its philosophy of life and hierarchy of values, was giving way to new forces. Oblomov is an organic part of the environment in which he lives. He is as closed off as Oblomovka and its inhabitants. He lives his life on the sofa and finds all the hustle and bustle of his contemporaries meaningless. The principle of his existence is peaceful lethargy, an effort to isolate himself from the flow of events and time. His opposite is his friend Stolz, whose philosophy of life presupposes constant movement and entrepreneurial spirit. He believes that man is capable of transforming the world with his energy and intellect. Oblomov's love for Olga, although reciprocated, is doomed to failure because they expect the impossible from each other – she expects decisiveness and action, he expects self-sacrificing love...