Danny Kaye stars in this musical comedy about a case of mistaken identity and the poor fool caught in the middle of it. Georgi (Kaye) is an illiterate member of a traveling medicine show who is mistaken by a small Russian village as the Inspector General, a royal official with vast powers. While the local government officials plot to bribe or kill him, Georgi ingrains himself into the public's favor all the while trying to find a way out of his situation.