In a small French town, Jean and his friend Berenger meet for a casual drink, but the ordinary day takes a bizarre twist when a rhinoceros suddenly charges through the town square. At first, it seems impossible—there aren’t supposed to be rhinoceroses in France.

But soon, one by one, the townspeople begin to transform into the very creatures they feared, as an inexplicable epidemic of “rhinoceritis” sweeps through the town. With more and more people turning into rhinoceroses, the line between human and beast quickly vanishes, leaving Berenger to question who will remain human in a world succumbing to madness.