Irish outsider Quackser Fortune (Gene Wilder), who earns his living collecting manure and selling it as fertilizer, faces major changes in his life when he falls in love with American exchange student Zazel (Margot Kidder) and a new city ordinance threatens his job. When Zazel loses interest in him and the pressures of the modern world begin to mount up, Quackser's only option for survival is to finally try to fit in.