At the beginning of the film, three medical students are hunting for a body to use for research purposes. They hear of a tramp that has been found dead. The body is in the mortuary and as no-one seems to know who he is; they decide to take the body for dissection without formal permission. When the body is placed on the operating table, one of the students recognizes the man, and scenes from his acquaintance with the dead man flash back. At the same time certain things begin to happen that they had not allowed for.

Various events of importance to the nation and to individual persons during the cold war and from about 1960 emerge as fragments of the memory of a little boy learning about life, about divorce, military occupation, the Beatles, little girls and death.

An aging man has to come to terms with the fact he can't contribute as much to society as he once did.