The Portorican prime minister asks British detective Sherlock Holmes to find a twin for King Fernando XXIII, a weak and frightened man who fears anarchists and does not want to show himself in public. Holmes finds in the Czech newspapers a photo of the perfect double, František Lelíček, a daring bon vivant drowned in debt, so when Holmes offers him money, Lelíček decides to travel to Portorico and play the role.

The gullible buyer Žemla Martin (Francis Smolik) finally opened his dream shop. After a while, you get a lot of friends. Especially the former captain Kyllijána (Vlasta Burian), who come to him to drink brandy debt and sit on a bag of peas, where he talks nonsense. Its debt is starting to grow nicely. Later dupe marry an evil Pavlina Šustrová (Ela Poznerová). It can also bring their calculating mother, widow Catherine Šustrová (Antonie Nedošínská). These two together with a bun Kyllijánem use, but outside him are friendly. Later, when Žemla catches his wife cheating when he has become the father of a foreign child, and when he discovers that the shop is broke and completely vyjedený, poisoning. A best friend Žemlův captain Kylliján happily drunk debt for plum deleted.

The owner of a suburban house, Anna Faktorová, makes life miserable for the tenants. There is strict order in the house and the only one who gets along well with Mrs. Faktorová is the parasite and thief Gustav, who informs on the others. An old bachelor named Zajíček, a pawnshop clerk, moves into the attic. After a while, he finds a liking for his neighbor, music teacher Věra Hronová. Grocer Mejstřík is worried about the fate of his shop on the ground floor. Spiritualist Šoltys is forced to pay increased rent when he is caught at a seance, and on top of that, a clock goes missing from his apartment. A dealer later comes to the pawnshop with them. Zajíček recognizes the clock and it turns out that Gustav stole the clock. Zajíček, who has become close to Věra, is jealous when he sees her talking to an older, rich man...

Lieutenant Patera, who unfortunately became involved in a scandalous affair in the highest circles of the Habsburg monarchy, is transferred from his sentence to the backwater garrison in Munich.