 A minor bureaucratic functionary in a soulless totalitarian regime is ashamed of his tattered overcoat. He scrimps to save money for a new one, and the new one changes his life. He is suddenly respected, admired, and valued, and when the new coat is stolen, his life becomes worse than it was before. He goes against the bureaucracy in hopes of getting the government to help him get his coat, and discovers that he can no longer accept the world he lives in as it is.