Set in early 19th century Wallachia, when a local policeman, Costandin, is hired by Iordache, a boyar (local noble), to find Carfin, a Gypsy slave who had run away from the boyar's estate after having an affair with his wife, Sultana. Costandin sets out to find the fugitive, beginning a journey full of adventures. Gypsy slavery lasted from the 14th century up until the middle of the 19th century, a situation which is very little known and almost nonexistent in the public debate today, although its impact continues to influence Romania's social life.

Once upon a time, during WWII, somewhere in Nazi occupied Romania, a night of comic misadventures ensues when a boy discovers a dead soldier. The German authorities demand that the perpetrator must be identified or the town leaders will be shot the following morning. In their desperation, led by Father Johanis (Harvey Keitel), their salvation seems to lie in convincing the town "fool", Ipu (Gérard Depardieu), to agree to confess, and save them all with his sacrifice. The comedy and darker sides of human nature race toward the deadline where one cannot help but wonder who, in fact, is the actual "fool"?

Four boys start neglecting school in order to meet in a hidden location and play poker. As time goes by, their poker games become more and more serious, while at the same time bring them closer as friends. Now that they are grown-ups, Claudiu, Titel, Horia and Marcel are known as the resourceful politician, the surgeon who knows people, the adventurous gangster and the millionaire architect. Behind their normal day-to-day activities, such as cocoa transactions or garden gnomes deals, the boys hide serious, money-making businesses. Their last "match" reveals that each of the four friends has a secret plan the others don't know about, and soon their traditional poker game turns into a ridiculous bluff. While Monica, the politician's mistress, watches their cat and mouse game with disguised indifference, the boys fail to realize that none of them has the ace up his sleeve...