During a performance, the popular actor Izvekov refuses to follow the script and disrupts the production. When the actor regains consciousness, he finds himself in a psychiatric hospital. The doctors conclude that, having played such a vast number of roles, the actor has lost his sense of self and responds to people by quoting lines from his characters.
Meanwhile, a group of filmmakers is pressuring the head of the psychiatric ward to allow them to finish filming the movie with Izvekov, as only the final scene remains to be shot.
