The film begins with a prologue in which a master of ceremonies (Ivan Arkadin) introduces the principal cast - all of whom are named after the seven notes of the musical scale (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, and Ti) - in the form of marionettes on a puppet stage.

The nation's major political factions - monarchists, liberals, fascists, and socialists - squabble fruitlessly in parliament, while the common people grow increasingly radicalized by the example of the USSR, with which Boufferia shares a heavily militarized border.

In particular, when asked about measures to resolve the state crisis, So suggests "hot compresses and lead lotions," delighting the leader of the fascist faction, Fa (Konstantin Zubov), who construes the answer as a gnomic endorsement of political violence.

The cabal schemes to touch off a Boufferian-Soviet war by having a border artillery battery launch an unprovoked surprise attack against the USSR; simultaneously, prince Do finally loses his temper and assaults So for his insolence, chasing him around the palace.

At the exact moment the cannon at the border fortress fires, the irate real prince beans the impostor over the head with a heavy volume entitled "The Philosophy Of Fascism," presented to him earlier by an intellectual sycophant.