El Ministro y Yo plot
Mateo Melgarejo ("Cantinflas") is a notary and writer for the illiterate of Santo Domingo, a neighborhood north of Mexico City's Zócalo. A friend asks him for help in negotiating with a census bureau. After much frustration with the government bureaucracy, he writes a letter to the cabinet minister, which results in a meeting with him. The minister hires Melgarejo for the reform office and Melgarejo manages to remind the officials of their duties in a democratic society. Finally, he returns to Santo Domingo to help the poor people.