In this "inside look" at French filmmaking, Marechal - who is a has-been director - a producer, Vito Catene and Camile Dor, a big-name actress, have agreed to make a film about drugs, but don't have a story, financing, or any of the other elements needed to make it. This doesn't stop them; they cobble together the financing and begin shooting anyway. The producer is very fond of the leading actress, and when she gets hooked on drugs for real in the course of shooting what he feels to be a farcical imitation of a film, he gives up his shares in the film and heads off for the back of beyond (Zanzibar) to lick his wounds. To add insult to injury, the film winds up being a critical and commercial success.

Twin brothers arrive in Rio during the Carnival. One is a priest and is going to work in a parish; the other, a drug-dealer, in a business trip to sell cocaine. They’re not aware of each other’s presence. People expecting them always get in touch with the wrong guy.

Carlo Monte, a seductive pizza maker in charge of a straw hut on the beaches of the south of France, is contacted by barbouzes who notice his perfect resemblance to President-General Gonzales Y Ramirez, president for life of Malaguenia. Supposed to replace the dictator on a private visit to France and to announce his abdication in favor of the insurgents, he had them arrested and established democracy. As for the deposed tyrant, he found himself in charge of Carlo's straw hut with somewhat militarized colors.