In 1827, at an inn in Nafplio, the capital of the newly established Greek state, a group of people from different parts of Greece are celebrating the defeat of the Turkish fleet in Navarino. However, in their patriotic fervor they drink too much, and a hot-tempered Arvanite, not understanding the dialect of a Cretan and thinking he has insulted him, injures him with a pistol. Police Inspector Dionysios Fantes from the Ionian Islands arrives at the scene to interrogate the witnesses but he too can't understand their various dialects as they can't understand his.