Leib Goldkorn, a man from Vienna who became an American citizen in 1943, is a musician who specializes in woodwind instruments but plays the piano for a quintet at the Steinway Restaurant. One day, while he is performing, the music is interrupted by shouts of panic, and Goldkorn turns to see two men with guns. The men, who he soon realizes are hispanic, break several instruments and injure a man who tries to use the pay phone to call for help. Hearing the commotion, Vivian Stutchkoff, the owner of the restaurant, enters the room from the staircase, and the gunmen fire several shots at him, though they all miss. When he is near the front door, however, Stutchkoff keels over, clutching his chest. Though he has not been shot, the man lies motionless and is soon declared dead. The two gunmen then grab the money from the cash register and run toward the door. They find it is completely blocked, however, by Stutchkoff's body. Because the restaurant owner was a large man, the gunmen are unable to open the door or even move the body out of the way. So when they hear sirens outside and a loud voice asking them to surrender, the men have no choice but to stay inside and treat those in the restaurant as their hostages. As the night goes on and it grows colder, the gunmen drink at the bar to stay warm, while the hostages mostly stay where they are, although Stutchkoff's wife goes to her husband's body to pray over him. When morning comes, a black car pulls up to the restaurant and a loud voice attempts to lure the gunmen outside. The men, in response, order the quintet to play music to drown out the noise, and the car soon leaves. Soon after, one of the gunmen approaches a woman and begins touching her inappropriately. Goldkorn walks up to the man, introducing himself and rambling about his life, hoping to distract him. The man does turn his attention to Goldkorn but only to point his pistol at him. Just then, the phone begins to ring, and the gunman orders Goldkorn to answer it. On the other end of the phone are two officers, who can be seen from the payphone across the street. It becomes clear that the officers are in disagreement with one another, as one threatens to enter by force and the other tries to negotiate a deal. The men cut off the officers, demand one million dollars and transportation to China by sundown, and hang up the phone. Later that day, one of the restaurant staff begins acting strangely and eventually throws himself onto Stutchkoff's corpse, acting as if he could wake him up. One of the gunmen grabs the man, trying to pull him off of the body, but the other hostages intervene, blocking his attempts. The other gunman then fires a shot out the window, killing a dog across the street to get everyone's attention. The hostages return to their spots, and Goldkorn realizes the staff member has only feigned insanity to retrieve the key to the back door from Stutchkoff's pocket. When night falls, the gunmen decide their demands will not be met and order the hostages to remove their clothes and gather in the center of the room. At this point, Goldkorn remembers his wife Clara who is at home and needs someone to administer her medicine. Only seconds later, several hostages begin to scream as they see a gray cloud of smoke rise from Stutchkoff's body. The cloud, which the people believe to be Stutchkoff's ghost, passes through the restaurant, and everyone begins to weep. They soon realize, however, that it is tear gas coming in from the crack under the front door. Suddenly, one of the hostages runs to the back of the room and unlocks the door. When Goldkorn emerges from the restaurant into the night, he hears a loud, rhythmic noise and sees the snow rising from the ground and whirling in the air, both of which cause him to question his sanity. Then, turning back, the hostages see the body of Stutchkoff float upright out of the doorway and into the street. Suddenly, Goldkorn makes sense of it all. He looks up to see a helicopter, which is causing the noise and the rising snow. Behind Stutchkoff's body, he sees the two gunmen shielding themselves. Goldkorn realizes that each of the officers acted separately, one attempting to ambush the restaurant using tear gas and the other agreeing to the gunmen's demands by providing them the helicopter for their escape. When Stutchkoff's body reaches the middle of the street, the two gunmen run from behind it and make it to the helicopter, which then flies away. Some time later, Goldkorn recalls the events, while drinking and caring for his wife Clara, who is now very sick. He remembers the other members of the quintet, most of whom have moved or passed away, and hopes to one day be able to play music with a group once again.