In the seventeenth century the Spanish governor of Naples harassed the population. Among the populace he notices a beautiful miller whom he falls in love with; to seduce her, she puts Luca, her husband, in jail, but he manages to escape and even disguises himself as a governor and penetrates the palace up to the governor's bedroom. Meanwhile, his wife Carmela manages to hold off the governor who has gone to the mill. The governor and Luca agree to punish the cheater who, when he returns home, is unable to be opened by the guards who treat him as an impostor.