Guido Anselmi, a film director, finds himself creatively barren at the peak of his career. Urged by his doctors to rest, Anselmi heads for a luxurious resort, but a sorry group gathers—his producer, staff, actors, wife, mistress, and relatives—each one begging him to get on with the show. In retreat from their dependency, he fantasizes about past women and dreams of his childhood.

On a summer evening the circuit of the village policeman Krause suddenly went crazy. His doctor immediately prescribed a cure on the Baltic Sea for him. And so Krause and his sisters set off in the legendary "Dübener Ei". In the sanatorium he meets his roommate Rudi - an encounter with far-reaching consequences.