Delusions of Grandeur

Don Salluste de Bazan is accused of fathering an illegitimate child and is stripped of his position as finance minister. He is condemned to retire to a monastery, marking the beginning of his vengeful plans. His reputation is ruined, and he becomes a figure plotting revenge against the king and queen.

Don Salluste contacts his nephew Caesar, a brigand, to help him enact revenge on the king and queen. When Caesar refuses to cooperate, Salluste has him captured and sent as a slave to the Barbary coast. Salluste then plans to use Blaze, his former valet, to impersonate Caesar and seduce the queen.

Blaze, initially dismissed, impresses everyone during a royal court presentation by foiling an attack against the king. As a result, he gains favor with the queen and is promoted to a minister. Blaze begins to implement reforms that upset the nobles and threaten their riches.

Blaze enacts generous reforms, redistributing riches and taxing the wealthy heavily. This angers the nobles, who conspire to scheme against him, leading to an assassination plot. Blaze's popularity with the common people puts him at odds with the aristocracy.

While in the garden, Blaze secretly confesses his love for the queen during a game with her and her attendants. However, the duenna Doña Juana replaces the queen, and Blaze unwittingly declares his love to her instead. Doña Juana then confesses her love for Blaze.

Don Salluste learns of a plot to poison Blaze's cake on his birthday and warns him. The two fight their way out of a villa, escaping from pursuers by trapping them in a bullfighting ring, demonstrating Salluste's continued influence and underlying tensions.

Don Salluste plans an elaborate scheme involving Blaze and the queen at an inn, intending for them to be caught in a compromising situation by the king. He uses a parrot to transmit a message, but it mistakenly informs Doña Juana, leading to further complications.

Caesar escapes from the Barbary coast and frees Blaze, who then endures a striptease from Doña Juana. Blaze, uninterested in her, sedates her with a sleeping pill intended for him. The king arrives, believing Blaze to be Doña Juana's suitor, complicating Salluste's plot.

Blaze convinces the king that he is Doña Juana's lover and that the queen is away. Meanwhile, Blaze secretly observes the queen and Caesar from a distance, feeling moved by her. These deceptions further entangle the characters' schemes.

The king, deceived and outraged, banishes Don Salluste and Blaze to the Barbary coast. Blaze prefers slavery over marriage to Doña Juana, who is left disheveled and declares her love for him as she arrives in the desert, signaling the tragic end of their schemes.

Don Salluste appears to have gone insane after his plan's failure, rambling about becoming queen to regain his wealth. His obsession with revenge persists despite his downfall, indicating his unrelenting determination to restore his power.

The film concludes with Doña Juana arriving in the desert, disheveled, and openly expressing her love for Blaze. Blaze, overwhelmed by the events, flees, leaving their future uncertain as the chaos of revenge and deception finally subsides.