The film is a novelized biography of François Villon (1431-1463), known as the Wandering Poet, who led a troubled life due to the fact that he supported the free expression of people in a coercive climate.
Octavian Borcea, a middle aged peasant, goes through a social crisis when he decides to re-marry with a widower. He visits all his 5 children, then he returns in the village, where he burned his bridges.
After he fails to be accepted in college, Vali is questioned by police for participating in various thefts. He needs an alibi and he thinks the best one would be his father in Bucharest. To get there, he steals a motorcycle. In Bucharest he meets store clerk Anișoara, and he invites her to a seaside escapade. Their one day of love and future optimism is ended abruptly by a tragic motorcycle accident.
Escaping from a totalitarian society, in which music is banned, is rendered impossible, and the violent death of the artists, imposed by the supreme ruler, is carried out with no hesitation by his obedient servants.
