One evening, Mr. Lazarescu, an ailing retired engineer who lives alone--and is too fond of booze--feels a bit dizzy. He finally ends up being driven away in an ambulance, which is the start of a tragicomic odyssey. Each doctor who examines him arrives at an entirely different diagnosis, and his emergency treatment is incessantly postponed. The physicians are deaf to the entreaties of the patient and his friends, and are devoid of sympathy for the elderly Mr. Lazarescu as he again plunges into the Bucharest night.