Eugene, a young nobleman, asks two penniless idlers to impersonate his noble relatives to help him marry Gemma, the daughter of an enriched cook.
The penniless Duke decides to participate in "Lascia o raddoppia", a TV quiz show, in order to win five million lira. Then two gangsters bet between themselves on his success and, alas, the Duke is kidnapped.
In the city of Ostuni in Puglia, the mute seminarian Ercole is designated to be the driver and nurse of Parsifal, the paraplegic son in a rich and sanctimonious family of landowners. Ercole soon becomes the lover of his master's wife, the beautiful Baroness Clotilde. In a familial and social context where only money, sex and power count, everyone tries to take advantage of everyone, but the real saprophyte turns out to be Ercole.
