阿巴贡（路易·德·菲耐斯 Louis de Funès 饰）是个人尽皆知的吝啬鬼，早年丧妻的他带着女儿艾莉丝（Claire Dupray 饰）和儿子克莱昂特（皮埃尔·奥赛达特 Pierre Aussedat 饰）过着平静的生活。靠放高利贷为生的阿巴贡将辛苦赚来的金币埋在了花园里，他将自家花园的地下视为最保险和最安全的所在。 阿巴贡一直在追求一个名叫玛丽安娜（Madeleine Barbulée 饰）的年轻姑娘，没想到玛丽安娜却和克莱昂特两情相悦，两人在花园里幽会的时候被阿巴贡逮了个正着，这让阿巴贡十分气恼。祸不单行，阿巴贡埋在地下的金币失窃了，克莱昂特向父亲承诺他将查出盗窃金币的罪魁祸首，但作为报酬，他必须祝福他与玛丽安娜的爱情。
Lewis returns to Oxford after several years absence and is reluctantly assigned by his new boss, DCS Innocent, to the murder of an Oxford mathematics student who was shot while participating in a sleep study. The key-code used to access the sleep lab was assigned to a fellow maths student, Daniel Griffin, but Daniel's math tutor has provided him with an alibi. Daniel is a maladjusted young man who will soon inherit his father's automotive empire. He is disruptive and has no respect for his uncle who now heads the company. The future of the company however rests on an impending deal with Japanese investors who insist that family unity is all important at this time. When two other murder occurs, Lewis must decipher a cryptic clue left in an old case file by his former boss, Chief Inspector Morse.
