Set over three generations and beginning with a sexually frustrated orderly during WWII who relieves his tensions in the most outlandish, gross ways. The result of his liaison is a glutton who grows up to be a champion speed eater. He produces a child who becomes obsessed with taxidermy.

Summer 1913, in a village near Buzăul. Ionica, the schoolteacher's son, witnesses the hard life of the poor villagers. The war is coming and his landless neighbors have to work 16 hours a day at the oil wells for miserable wages. Is there hope for them?