A bankrupt restaurateur on the brink of suicide is suddenly treated with deference and kindness by a bizarre group of strangers — who welcome him in their home, no less! Truth is they have mistaken him for the tax man they're waiting for, desperate to save their floundering ostrich-breeding business.

Celestino has communication problems because of his incomprehensible native dialect. When he falls madly in love with a deaf girl called Rosetta, he learns sign language and pretends to be deaf as well in order to court her.