The action takes place in the 1950s.

In a cafe on one of the central streets of the Argentinean capital, the owners of the happy prizes of the Tourist Lottery gather for a free sea cruise. One of the first to come is colleagues - teachers at State College Carlos Lopez and Dr. Restelli. Lopez is overwhelmed by doubts: everything is strangely organized, nowhere can you find out any details. What distrust, soothing Restelli, the state lottery, tickets were officially distributed, it is difficult to expect a catch. Ahead - three months of sailing, and paid vacation - this is a significant gain! It is only annoying that among the prize winners there is a student of their college Felipe Trejo, a notorious idler and an impudent person who will surely spoil a lot of blood for them. Since the winner has the right to take up to three relatives, he goes on a trip with his sister Beba and his parents.

The family tries to keep orderly, keeps an important, pompous appearance. Lucio invited his bride Nora. The girl, brought up in strict Catholic rules, did not inform her parents about her departure and is now very nervous. Lucio introduces her clubmate Gabriel Medrano, who also won a prize. Nora is amazed: what Lucio's old friend is, he is at least forty, although he, of course, is very elegant. Medrano is a dentist, he has a private office, but he is burdened by his prosaic profession, and perceives the trip as an excellent excuse to break up with another girlfriend Bettina. Claudia, living in a divorce from her husband, took with her son Jorge and old friend Persio, a great eccentric and poet. He and the boy get along well and love to indulge in fantasies. Don Halo Porrillo arrives in a luxury car, a millionaire, the owner of a chain of large stores, a lonely paralytic, a servant brings him in a wheelchair. Worker kid Atilio Presutti, nicknamed Fluff, goes on a cruise accompanied by his mother, fiancée Nelly and her future mother-in-law. Paula invited Raul, with whom she had been friends for ten years, since her student days. Both of them are from wealthy families, Paula went to Bohemia, and Raul - architect. According to his apt observation, those gathered on a journey represent all walks of life, prosperity and vegetation are quite pronounced. Everyone is somewhat uneasy, it hurts a lot of ambiguities with this trip. It is strange that the gathering place is designated here, and not at the customs or at the marina. It was recommended to pack things in advance, and the luggage was taken back in the morning.

The agreed time is approaching - 18 hours. Two men in dark blue suits invite strangers and mourners to leave the premises and begin to check documents. The cafe staff is perplexed: what is really happening is reminiscent of a raid, the street is cordoned off by police, traffic is blocked. Future travelers are escorted to the military bus. The Inspector of the Organizational Department advises, by all means, to maintain the calm inherent in well-educated people and not to be indignant at minor problems and organizational difficulties. The ship on which they sail is called Malcolm, unless unforeseen circumstances arise, parking will be in Rio de Janeiro, Dakar, Cape Town, Yokohama.

The atmosphere of frightening mystery is preserved in the port, but now, having overcome the dark marina, travelers are on board the ship. They are pleasantly amazed: the cabins are beautiful and comfortable, their things are in place. True, the sailors speak an incomprehensible language and are not allowed into the stern, showing signs that there is no passage, and the doors leading to it are shut up tightly. Tired travelers go to their cabins.

In the morning, it turns out that the ship is still anchored in the vicinity of Buenos Aires. Travelers gather at breakfast, they are waiting for six set tables. The bartender, who is asked about the route of the cruise, the name of the captain and other details, answers politely, but evasively. Passengers get to know each other, get closer on sympathy, common interests. Claudia and Medrano have a spiritual intimacy, pleasant conversations develop into frank conversations about the past, where there is a deep dissatisfaction with life. The attention of homosexual Raul attracts Felipe. Paula teases a friend: his new chosen one is young, handsome, stupid and absurd. Felipe is overcome by all complexes of adolescence. After last night, Lucio feels like a winner, and Nora is severely disappointed with the start of her honeymoon. Lopez is attracted to Paula, who is not indifferent to his courtship. During a very refined dinner, the ship begins to maneuver and finally goes into the open sea.

Everyone willingly indulges in carefree pastimes, they have a swimming pool, a solarium, a gym, a music salon, a library. Only Raul, Lopez and Medrano are worried about why the aft is still closed. They urgently require a meeting with the captain. From an officer who introduced himself as a navigator, travelers are trying to get why they are being locked up in the bow of the ship. After all kinds of evasions, the navigator admits that he would not want to spoil the impressions of a pleasant trip, but among the team there are two cases of typhoid, the ship's doctor uses the most modern methods of treatment, but quarantine is required. One of the sick is the captain. Passengers are indignant: why did the ship leave the port? How sanitary control allowed? According to Lopez, the ship administration agreed to a profitable business at the last minute, keeping silent about what happened on board. Raoul believes that they are not dealing with ordinary fraud, but rather metaphysical. Behind this genuine or imaginary quarantine is something else that eludes their understanding. Medrano also considers typhus a fiction, it is necessary to fight the arbitrariness of the judiciary. The self-confident and dumb Lucius can’t understand at all: why are his companions so worried?

Lopez and Raul still force the bartender to open one of the doors and wander for a long time in the gloomy labyrinth of hold passages, trying to find the stern, but to no avail, but in one of the rooms Raul manages to pick up the revolvers. Senor Trejo, having deduced from his son about a sortie into the depths of the ship, expresses discontent, law-abiding Restelli also does not approve of excessive ardor. Don Halo is more categorical: if Lopez and his friends continue to interfere with the administration of the ship and impose disobedience on board, the consequences for all passengers can be most dire.

Medrano is indignant at the thought that if they had not been surrounded by such comfort, they would have acted more energetically and decisively and would have ended their doubts long ago. Lopez suggests that the company is likely involved in dark affairs, carrying too much contraband cargo. “We are like in a zoological garden,” Jorge complains, “only the audience is not us,” and the child’s words only increase anxiety. Craving for adventure, Felile, alone, takes risky trips into the hold of the ship. Paula cannot figure out her feelings for Lopez, in her relationship with Raul ideal symmetry reigned, albeit not without pathology.

On the second day of the trip, Don Halo and Dr. Restelli give an amateur concert, considering it the best way to melt the ice. Not seeing Felipe on it, Raul goes on the wanted list and discovers a teenager in one of the hold spaces along with a sailor rapist. Jorge has a high fever, the ship's doctor suggests pneumonia. Radio contact with Buenos Aires is prohibited, or maybe the boy has typhoid?

On the morning of the third day, the baby's temperature is under forty. Despite the ban, Medrano offers to break into the radio room. Having isolated the confused underfoot, Medrano, Lopez, Raul and Fluff unexpectedly joined them, armed with revolvers, penetrate the stern of the vessel.

Lopez suffered in a fight with the sailors, and Paula cares for him carefully. In a shootout, Medrano was mortally wounded, having managed to force the radio operator to transmit a radiogram to Buenos Aires. You can’t mourn the one you barely know, Claudia muses at the body of the deceased, but nevertheless this man died for her and for Jorge. But he could revive her with his life.

At breakfast, passengers express their indignation at the reckless antics of the satellites. “Malcolm” stands in the middle of the ocean, the trip is interrupted, it is proposed to pack suitcases. Jorge is recovering, his illness was caused by a temporary malaise. On two seaplanes an inspector of the Organizational Office arrives, accompanied by police officers. He regrets the misunderstandings that have taken place and takes under the protection of the actions of the ship administration. The unreasonable behavior of the victim, who arbitrarily violated the sanitary cordon and entered the infected area, ended in a fatal way. Further stay on board is a hazard to the health of travelers. But Medrano was killed and did not die from the disease, why is this hushed up? - “rebels” are indignant, but his body has already been removed from the ship, and most passengers share the proposed version of events, especially since the inspector clearly hints that if someone someday, having lost a sense of reality, he will insist on a distortion of facts, they will deal with him in an appropriate place. It was also promised that the Office would take care of appropriate compensation. And still five - Lopez, Paula, Raul, Fluff and Claudia refuse to sign the protocol drawn up by the inspector. If among the passengers there is no unity, it is necessary to intern everyone without exception, the inspector threatens. The fury of the companions falls upon the “rebels”: balanced and sensible people may suffer because of the stubbornness and stubbornness of arrogant youngsters, but they persist in their decision. Passengers put in seaplanes and brought to Buenos Aires. The gun boils with indignation: it turns out that the old and the pharaohs will prevail, shame and shame! But he is discouraged by the silence and indifference of those with whom he was that morning in a dangerous situation at the stern. And they, it seems, in their hearts have already renounced their rebellion. Saying goodbye, everyone goes home, life returns to normal.