Romania, during the final days of Communism. Otilia and Gabita are students; they share a room in a hall of residence in Bucharest. Gabita is pregnant. The girls arrange to meet a certain Mr. Bebe in a cheap hotel. He will perform Gabita's illegal abortion. But Mr. Bebe refuses their money and demands to be paid in kind.

“I didn't want to make a film about abortion or communism; I think that my film goes beyond that. Abortion is a good example of the influence propaganda and education had on us, even if we didn't realize it at the moment. Abortion was legal in Romania up to 1966 and there was this law, Ceaucescu gave this very famous law that banned abortion in order to have very big generations of people that would fulfil the expectations of the Communist world. Women were not prepared at all so they needed some time and there were a lot of children that came into the world this way. And I came into this world this way and this is why I felt it important to make such a film… Because of the pressure of the regime, women and families were so much concerned with not being caught for making an illegal abortion that they didn't give one minute of a thought about the moral issue…”
Cristian Mungiu