Leopoldo Quintana is a lawyer who, determined to reach power and capable of anything to get what he wants, uses blackmail and shady maneuvers to be appointed congressman for the Balearic Islands, then minister, and finally President of the Council of Ministers of the Spanish Government.

In 1776, an inventor conceals a Polish nobleman in his chess-playing automaton, a machine whose fame leads it to the court of the Russian empress.

If Fernandel did not appear in a supporting part ,another short (by E.Chotin who made dozens of them)which would not have been restored.But Fernandel is here ,playing a street pedlar selling luxury (sic) clothes on the flea market with a gorgeous girl as a model.This is a rather desultory script but Fernandel's presence makes the short worthwhile.He sings one song: "le Père Lapuce". A wealthy antique dealer, having started in the flea market in the past, settles his son there, an unrepentant nuke, to teach him how to work. There he meets a treasure: his future wife.