Unexpectedly inheriting billions of dollars, small-town greeting card poet Longfellow Deeds heads for Manhattan, where his down-home style and short-fuse temper promise to deflate pompous windbags.

Small-town guy Longfellow Deeds (Sandler) goes to the big city to collect a $40 billion inheritance from a long lost uncle. Living in a palatial mansion with the services of an unusual personal valet (John Turturro) isn't too bad.

Things get even better when he meets a beautiful school nurse (Winona Ryder). But money changes everything, and things aren't what they seem - his sweetie is actually a journalist feeding reports of his outrageous behavior to the press! Now, it's up to Deeds to straighten everybody out - with a few right hooks and lots of common sense.