Based on the story of the same name by Ion Creanga, Ivan Turbinca is an old soldier to whom - for a good deed he does - God grants him a wish. Ivan prays to God to bless his whirlpool, so that he has the power to put and keep in it whatever he wishes. "Pasol na turbina ciorti!" are the words Ivan uses to put devils in his whirlpool, tricking even Death, keeping her prisoner in his whirlpool.

A few unrelated groups of people leave for vacation from Bucharest for the mountains. They meet by chance in Poiana Brașov.