哈根是个艺术拥护者，他离开了富人圈去帮助一群没有任何资助的歌剧演员，因而生活一落千丈，变得穷困潦倒。他在一上流市场偷窃了一罐沙丁鱼，该沙丁鱼头精美无比，而背后藏有一价值连城的钻石项链他却一无所知。几经周折，这条钻石项链又回到机智聪明的哈根手中，而钻石项链的主人为了寻回它，到处收集沙丁鱼，最后几乎倾家荡产……

Captain Josiah Newman runs the neuro-psychiatric ward of an Arizona desert hospital during World War II. He often uses unconventional means and people to match, including his new orderly, Jackson Leibowitz.
Among the patients in their ward is the suicidal Colonel Bliss, who eventually climbs atop a water tower, and a battle-scarred corporal named Tompkins who reveals under the spell of sodium pentothal the source of his distress. Newman also assists in the marital love life of Captain Winston while enjoying a flirtation or two with his own chief nurse, Lieutenant Corum.