For several years now, a walking competition lasting two days and nights, and during which contestants cover more than 800 miles, takes place at a track in Bucharest. The night before the competition is due to start, Yon Holban, from Bucharest, is bowled over by a pick-up truck. Winner of the last four competitions, he is now out of the running. His daughter, Camilla Holban, a French-Romanian, traumatized by this brutal tragedy, hangs around the track, making a nuisance of herself. The race is in full swing, at the stadium and along the track. The competitors driving themselves hard, encouraged by their trainers. With Holban out of the way, his usual rivals are now hot favorites for first place. But the competition is a truly individual contest, a personal challenge testing one's own limits. To win, competitors must give it everything they've got. The trophy isn't much, a car. What's really at stake is being able to transcend the barrier of the self. Hakim Mazou and other contestants are participating in the Romanian competition for the first time. Unlike the hot favorites, no one knows the newcomers' capabilities, how they'll hold up. Andrei Manuc is top of the list of competitors and it's predicted that he is destined to win. But many unexpected incidents lie ahead in this race full of surprises.