When small-town innocent Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) heads to New York to collect a $20 million inheritance, he ends up a target of ridicule thanks to Babe Bennett (Jean Arthur), a cynical reporter whose demeaning stories have made him the joke of the city. So when he discovers his sweet and unassuming new girlfriend is actually the hardboiled Bennett in disguise, a disillusioned Deeds decides to give his fortune away, an act of charity his crooked lawyer will stop at nothing to prevent.

Richard Harris and Sir Alec Guinness star in this epic drama recounting the battle which raged between the monarchy and a commoner.