Ageing wrestler and circus strongman is put in an institution located somewhere in a world of its own, next to an abandoned railway station with pigs running loose on the tracks in almost constant rain. The institution is filled with the most diverse characters, all trying to go on with their own familiar ways instead of giving way to apathy or to mockery by others -- a retired cellist, war veterans, and an artistic old lady with whom the Wrestler slowly becomes romantically attached. After showing her all the strongman feats he's still capable of, the Wrestler sets out with her on a dramatic escape, pulling a railway car behind him with his teeth.