The Marquis Gastone De Chemandel plans to kill his lookalike Toto, a poor Neapolitan vagabond who a perfect double of the Marquis, to collect his life-insurance premium.
In 18th-century Rome, impish aristocrat Onofrio del Grillo amuses himself by playing pranks on all sorts of people — his reactionary family and fellow nobles, the poors, the French occupiers trying to modernize society, and even the Pope himself.
Sergio Benvenuti is a shy seller of contracts for a Roman company of music, but because of his character he cannot find even a customer, so he asks for help from a fellow named Nadia.
Three manic idiots—a lawyer, a cab driver and a handyman—team up to run a ballet company to fulfil the will of a millionaire. Stooge-like antics result as the trio try to outwit the rich widow and her scheming big-shot lawyer, who also wants to run the ballet.