Num mundo pós-apocalíptico em que a comida é a principal moeda de troca, Louison (Dominique Pinon), um ex-palhaço, arranja um emprego no prédio que abriga o açougue Delicatessen. Instalado na pensão do andar superior, o novo funcionário acaba se envolvendo com a violoncelista Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac), filha do sanguinário açougueiro Clapet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus). Perseguido, o rapaz precisa escapar do pai ciumento e dos demais moradores do prédio, que têm planos macabros para sua carne.
The time is the 1930s and two Soviet spies (both Frenchmen by nationality) have been helping Communist factions during the Civil War in Spain. It is the time of Stalin's iron rule in the USSR, and the two agents are suddenly called to Moscow by the KGB. Knowing that they are in trouble for no fault of their own, fear drives one of them to suicide while the other gets his lover and her child and begins a run for his life, knowing that the KGB will never let him go free.
