Giovanni (Beppe Grillo) is a mysterious hitchhiker of unknown origins, oddly out of place in the modern world since he is quite humble in his attitude, equally compassionate to everyone, and unselfish. Giovanni is given a lift by a priest (Fernando Rey) who looks like he deals cards under the table but has the noble project of publishing the life of Jesus Christ as a novel, and he needs to find some appropriate-looking young man to pose for book illustrations as the Christian Savior himself. Giovanni, it seems, fits the bill just perfectly. As Giovanni encounters the darker side of human failings, his abilities to apparently work miracles and to convince a hardcore terrorist to change her ways, set him apart -- as does his unique, non-violent philosophy. The less-than-ideal priests cannot identify with Giovanni's viewpoints, on the contrary, they begin to conclude that he is not playing with a full deck and they have some definite plans for how to take care of this aberrant loner.