Central Europe, 1930s: Czech physician Bartos (Vlastimil Brodský) devotedly attends poor patients in the city suburbs, at the same time researching the possibilities of regeneration of human tissues after transplantation. His former colleague Rosen (Jirí Vala), now working as an assistant at the private clinic of surgeon Kirchenbruch (Martin Ruzek), considers the research a mere utopia. The disappointed Bartos, trying to verify his theories, therefore accepts the outrageous proposal of Marion (Marie Vásová), owner of a brothel - to surgically replace the face of her lover, the wanted thief Cutter (Fred Delmare), with the face of murdered Father Hopsasa (Frantisek Filipovský). Bartos is well paid but his successful operation remains a secret.