The respectable Mr. Nikos Paganis is a commissioner at the Holy Temple of the Holy Apostles and considers his hunchbacked brother Markos to be a good-for-nothing because he does not work and spends his time philosophizing and speaking in riddles. His widowed mother, Liza, and his niece Sofia, who calls the hunchback "Karagiozis," share the same opinion. Nikos wants to betroth his daughter to his business partner, Thanos, giving her their family home as a dowry. He tries to usurp Markos' share and embezzles a considerable amount from the church treasury. The new priest, Father Timotheos, discovers the theft, and Thanos, fearing his reputation will be ruined, abandons Sofia. Liza tries to convince a senior judge, her former lover and Markos's real father, to help Nikos, but he categorically refuses.