Serafino, a young and innocent shepherd, inherits a huge fortune. He immediately starts spending the entire sum on presents for his friends, causing the envy of his family.
A wealthy broker, Federico Picchioni, within two days forfeits his partner and work, finishing well to living with two children and granddaughter (abandoned by her father). He is, at this point, in the face of many difficulties of adjustment but finds comfort in the help of his neighbor.
Belle Duke, in order to get revenge on her former lover Philip Bang, organizes his jail break. But instead of Philip, it is the Italian Felice Brianza, AKAS Felix, who escapes. Now Felix is obliged to help Philip to escape. He succeeds and the two join to defraud Belle. The swindle plot become more complicated when Felix falls in love for Philip's daughter.
A collection of dark-humoured vignettes, including tales of a cardinal with a liberal congregation, a motorist and a hitchhiker, mentally challenged tramps, parents contemplating their daughter's participation in a pornographic film, and a conniving husband.
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.