A young piano tuner befriends two rich old-ladies, and plots, with the help of his girlfriend, to betray their trust and steal from them.
The movie examines the lives of the not-so-fortunate dregs of society through airy but uneven absurdist comedy. The unfortunates of the title are mentally challenged people, some of whom could be termed insane - or merely inane.
The history of Bender's hunt for the underground millionaire Koreiko develops in the 1920s. Bright characters, adventurous adventures and a light veil of a bygone era in a new version of the classic work of Soviet literature.