二次大戰後期的1944年春天，駐防於烏克蘭邊境的羅馬尼亞小部隊迎接了德軍高級將領的來訪，雙方期待的是對方能夠為他們帶來豐盛的一餐。
席間德國指揮官出示了一張全世界只剩兩張的珍貴羅馬尼亞「原牛頭像」郵票，只是，這張稀罕的郵票卻瞬間離奇地消失。全片在既封閉又開放的空間中拍攝，以精湛的劇場技巧刻劃出人性的荒謬。

Based on a theatrical text by Romanian writer Ion Luca Caragiale (1852-1912), who was a bitter and funny witness of the turn-of-the-20th-century Romanian bourgeois mores, Carnival Scenes manages to preserve and further enhance the slightly hysteric atmosphere of his plays. Pintilie creates a strange combination of carnival scenes which is brought to the screen as a burlesque, fast-paced, screwball comedy with a meditative undertone. This film was banned in Romania for a decade until the death of Ceausescu in 1989 and was only released after the 1989 revolution.

In 1925 Romania, young Marie-Therese Von Debretsy refuses the flirtatious advances of her husband's commanding officer. As a result, the cosmopolitan family is reassigned to a brutally bleak and dangerous outpost on the Bulgarian/Romanian frontier where both their relationship and humanity are severely tested.

In post-communist Romania, young prosecutor Dumitru Costa is sent to investigate a miner's suspicious death in the Jiu Valley. As he delves deeper, he uncovers a network of corruption and negligence within the local mining community. Costa's pursuit of justice pits him against powerful interests, testing his resolve in a society struggling with the aftermath of transition.

21 December 1989. They held street protests in Bucharest against the Ceausescu regime. At nightfall, the authorities retaliates using weaponry against people demonstrating peacefully. A young nurse wakes up at midnight at the door with a teenager injured. Together with her boyfriend, doctor, take him to the hospital where she works. They gave the necessary care. The young man is out of danger. Morning young nurse discovers him in the hospital morgue, shot in the head. Assistance and her boyfriend are pressured to pass Security business silence. Friend gives assistance not. Their relationship is falling apart. For assistance inconvenient witness nightmare begins.

1992 film

A prosecutor, policemen and teacher take the students Vuica and Nicu to a restaurant to re-enact their drunken brawl there, and have it filmed to show the effects of alcoholism.