Nicolae Ardelean, an elderly retired colonel and his wife, Poucha, bury their son Mihai who met with an accidental death. Surrounded by their relatives and friends, and supported by their only daughter, Angela, and her husband, the elderly couple manages to cope with the terrible ordeal. Angela is holding out for two things: a child and a visa for the United States where she wants to immigrate with her husband. The couple invest a lot in this departure, particularly as they are given full encouragement by Angela’s parents-in-law, the Tufaru. Florian Tufaru, dynamic and enterprising, advises the couple to leave Rumania behind. He considers it to be insignificant and without a future and that brighter horizons lie elsewhere across the Atlantic. But for Angela, leaving means leaving her elderly parents behind. Torn between the desire to see his daughter happy and to have her close, the colonel must accept the unacceptable: he and his wife will remain alone.