A unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him.

Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town and leads a small-town kind of life, including playing the tuba in the town band. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow picks up his tuba and moves to the big city, where he becomes an instant target for everyone from the greedy opera committee to the sensationalist daily newspaper. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. Babe is a hot-shot reporter who figures that the best way to get close to Deeds is to pose as a damsel in distress. When small-town boy meets big-city girl, anything can, and does, happen.—A.L.Beneteau <[email protected]>

Longfellow Deeds lives a simple, quiet life in the small town of Mandrake Falls. He has never traveled, and he makes a living writing little ditties for greeting cards and the like. When his rich uncle dies, he learns that he has inherited $20 million. He moves to New York where everybody tries get something from him. The estate's lawyer is desperate to get Deeds' power of attorney if for no other reason than to cover up a deficit in the account. They all view Deeds as a country bumpkin, but in his own simple way, Deeds just uses common sense and usually ends up making the right decision. He can't resist a damsel in distress, though, which is what ambitious reporter Babe Bennett is counting on--but love gets in the way. When Deeds tries to give his money away, he finds himself in court defending his sanity.—garykmcd

Longfellow Deeds of Mandrake Falls, Vermont is a simple man who needs little more to be truly happy than to come up with greeting-card poems or play his tuba. Longfellow learns that he is the sole beneficiary to the $20-million estate of his New-York-City-based Uncle Martin Semple--whom he barely knows except by name--who died in a car accident in Italy. Never having left Mandrake Falls, Longfellow is excited to travel to New York to deal with the estate, if only to see the sights of the big city. Certain things seem to come along with the inheritance, including a mansion full of servants and Cornelius Cobb, who is tasked with protecting Longfellow from any predators on behalf of his employer, Uncle Martin's lawyer John Cedar who wants to continue to have power of attorney over the estate for his own benefit. Beyond Cedar, people and organizations come out of the woodwork wanting their piece of the estate, believing they can run roughshod over "simpleminded country bumpkin" Longfellow--who is not so simpleminded. The one person who gets past Cobb's wall to fleece Longfellow is Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Babe Bennett, who is playing down-on-her-luck working girl "Mary Dawson" to play to Longfellow's humanity. Babe's mission is to write an exclusive series on Longfellow--portraying him as a backward sap. Babe's articles have the potential to ruin Longfellow's life and his selfless plan for all the money, and even if she develops a conscience and comes to his aid in being converted to his simple and more humanistic way of thinking, his fate might already be sealed, not only in being classified as backward, but more importantly certifiable.—Huggo

One of the wealthiest men in the country dies and leaves his entire fortune to his nephew, Longfellow Deeds. Deeds is a simple, satisfied man of moderate means living in a small town. In an instant he is whisked to New York where he is waited on hand and foot and becomes the target for scammers, lawyers and publicity-seekers. Overwhelmed by the turn his life has taken, and awakened to another use for his new-found fortune, Mr. Deeds makes a momentous decision.—grantss