A reporter arrives in Rijeka and is placed in a hotel room numbered 23 where he also meets a mysterious roommate with a shady past. His arrival in the city coincides with the dissappearence of a famous local musical artist. His interest sufficiently piqued, he starts an amateur investigation of his own, which traps him in the inescapable clutches of the city's criminal underworld, putting the life and safety of both him and his family at risk.

Due to socio-political issues in the country, it has become questionable to what extent the decision to leave the home country is forced. The community that is needed to establish better conditions and consequently slow down the trend of emigration due to the same problem remains weakened. These and many other factors lead to devastating statistics and the increasingly present problems of contemporary Croatian society. Žal, allegorically representing the country, tries to find the complex causes of the problem.