At a country inn, the local lord stumbles upon a drunken tinker named Christopher Sly, and decides to play a joke on him. Sly is led to believe that he is a nobleman, who, fallen ill, has only imagined himself to be a poor drunkard all these years. For the “nobleman’s” entertainment, a comedy will be performed by a troupe of traveling players. And here begins the story of this play-within-a-play...