Romania, 1920s. In a provincial town, where it is customary for passers-by to greet everyone they meet, and residents attach exaggerated importance to what their neighbors think of them, an extraordinary event occurs - a diesel-electric train, the Bucharest-Sinaia Express, stops at the railway station late in the evening. usually always passing through here without stopping. The express was stopped by the train conductor to disembark a stowaway named Mona, who was traveling to Bucharest. She is dressed in a luxurious dress and hat, and has nothing in her pockets except casino chips. By the will of fate, at the same time, at the station, she meets the cosmography teacher of the local gymnasium, Marin Miroiu.