Everything unfolds in Naples seventeenth century, when a mysterious masked swordsman who calls Salvador Rossa becomes champion of the needy and lonely struggle against the cruel tyrant that frightens the country.
Called to perform at the Scala, a young baritone begins a transatlantic romance with a famous pianist. The singer, having been skewered by a critic after his last performance in Milan, attempts to find a way to win over the audience and the critics, while wooing his love interest.
In the eighteenth-century Rome, Don Pasquale Corneto, wants his young nephew Ernesto, dedicated to a wasteful social life, to marry a rich spinster, both to save on the expenses of his maintenance and to increase the family heritage.