Indolent Roman slave Pseudolus (Zero Mostel) has one wish: to purchase his freedom. With his master and mistress away for the day, Pseudolus learns that the master's son, Hero (Michael Crawford), has fallen for a beautiful virgin in a slave merchant's house. The ever-crafty Pseudolus then cooks up a scheme that will allow him to go free if he can procure the girl for Hero. Richard Lester directed this frenetic adaptation of the stage musical.