Deep South Italian seventies. The performing and penniless sales representative "Tano" Avallone, fell in love with the beautiful Mariangela, sixteen-year-old daughter of the widowed lawyer "Totonno" Fortis Pantaleo. In order to approach the girl, he enters the graces of the professional, posing as his childhood friend and saying he is willing to eliminate the elderly Donna Mercedes, mother of these, so that he can inherit the substances. Guest of the family, Tano finds himself involved in a whirlwind of feminine attentions, including the free-range governess Immaculate, unnecessarily coveted by the lawyer, and the servant Sisina, desired by the parish priest.

Giacinto lives with his wife, their ten children and various other family members in a shack on the hills of Rome. Some time ago he has lost his left eye while at work, and got a consistent sum of money from the insurance company, which he keeps hidden from the rest of the family. His whole life is now based on defending the money he sees as his own, while the rest of the family tries to kill him.