In 1913, in Oklahoma, oil derrick owner Lena Doyle, aided by her father and a hobo, is stubbornly drilling for oil despite the pressure from major oil companies to sell her land.
Pa, a moonshining chicken farmer, is worried that his dim-witted son Junior is becoming way more attracted to their cow Sassy Sue than he should be, so he sets out to gather up all the nubile young farmgirls in the area and get them to show Junior what he's missing.
Shanta Dhamle lives a wealthy lifestyle in Bombay along with her dad, Shamrao, and mom, Ansuya. She incurs their displeasure when she falls in love and gets married to a poor and overly sensitive writer, Gopal, who moves in with them, and continues to suffer verbal abuse at Shamrao's hands.
The innkeeper Barnabáš and the teacher Isidor Slovíčko succumb to the lure of old Moreles, to whom the young Taussig sends enthusiastic letters from America.