A humble Jewish barber who fought with the Tomanian army in World War I returns home years after the end of the conflict. Suffering from amnesia due to a plane crash, he remembers virtually nothing of his past life and is unaware of the country's current political situation: Adenoid Hynkel, a fascist and racist dictator, has seized power and begun persecuting the Jewish people, whom he blames for the country's crisis. Meanwhile, Hynkel and his collaborators have begun preparing a military offensive aimed at conquering the entire world.