In 1769, a Spanish expedition to California seeks to conquer the land and discover its famed gold treasures while missionaries aim to gain new converts and establish a network of Catholic missions.
With the purpose of using barbasco roots in the production of cortisone, a pharmaceutical company sends a scientist to investigate the possibilities of exploitation in Veracruz, but the man gets lost in the jungle and lives a strange romantic adventure in a remote location called Paradise.
It's 1885 in Arizona and an Army Captain has dispersed his troops to keep the whites off of Government land thereby keeping the peace with the Apaches. But there are those in Tucson that want the miners back looking for gold and they put pressure on officials in Washington. Soon a new commander arrives, the troops are recalled, and the miners go after gold. Whites then kill a miner with an arrow so they can attack the Indians hoping the troops wipe them out when they retaliate.
Rosario, the niece of the rancher, returns to the ranch after ten years of absence. She takes in Margarito, a worker at the ranch, who is immediately smitten by her. Rosario is rescued from a runaway horse by the Seven Men, an outlaw a la Robin Hood that steals from the rich and gives to the poor. He also happens to be the twin brother of Margarito, unbeknownst to him. The confusion between Margarito and the Seven Men generates great comical situations in the film.
Left alone after her mother runs off with another man and her father kills himself, Elena attempts to make a new life for herself in a new city. Believing he's a friend, Elena goes to dinner with "Pretty Boy" Lucio, but he drugs her champagne and sells her to Rosaura, who runs a brothel out of her nightclub. Elena becomes a sensation as a dancer, but all the while she nurtures plans of revenge against those who have conspired against her.
On a small Mexican island dwells a group of Indians who live in the traditional manner and who disdain outsiders. The beautiful Maclovia and the poverty-stricken Jose Maria are in love, but her father refuses to allow their marriage, or even any communication between them, due to Jose Maria's lack of means.
Owen Thursday sees his new posting to the desolate Fort Apache as a chance to claim the military honour which he believes is rightfully his. Arrogant, obsessed with military form and ultimately self-destructive, he attempts to destroy the Apache chief Cochise after luring him across the border from Mexico, against the advice of his subordinates.
In Mexican Revolution times, a guerrilla general and his troops take the conservative town of Cholula, near by Mexico City. As the revolutionaries mistreat the town's riches, General Reyes falls for beautiful and wild Beatriz Peñafiel, the daughter of one of the town's richest men.
A young journalist asks an old artist about the portrait of a naked Indian woman that he has in his study. The artist tells the story of Maria Candelaria, a young Indian woman who was rejected by her own people for being the daughter of a prostitute. She is protected by a young Indian man, Lorenzo Rafael, who has fallen in love with her.
Cantinflas and three friends return a stolen necklace to an actress who invites them to be extras at Clasa studios. While on the set, he falls asleep and dreams that he is d'Artagnan, fighting on behalf of Queen Anne.
Unjustly accused of theft, the noble Raimundo is forced to leave his paternal home. A new incident, caused by the ambition of his brother José, causes Raimundo to be disowned by his girlfriend María and by his father, the just and strict Don Pepe. The only one who believes in Raimundo is his mother, Dona Lupita, a woman who suffers deeply because of the wrong decisions of her children.
Cantinflas enjoys the bullfight show, and wants to crash in every of these spectacles. Also, there's a professional bullfighter, Manolete, who is identical to Cantinflas. Manolete has to give a bullfight show in a village, but Cantinflas arrives first as a stowaway in a train, and he'll be mistake by the real bullfighter. Cantinflas will give us a demonstration of courage.
During the Mexican Revolution, the people tired of living in poverty and enduring the atrocities committed by the federals, decide to follow one of their own, General Demetrio Macias, a thief with tricks he learned in jail and who along with "La Pintada" decides to take his people to victory. Led by Captain Anastacio Montañez, the newly formed army fight and honor their code at the same time as they loot houses to spread the wealth.