Silvio, King of Tref, is extremely excited and extremely dejected by the illness of his only son, Prince of Tartaglia. The best doctors identified the ailment of the Crown Prince as the result of the deepest hypochondria and together they retreated from the unhappy. There was only one last way to prevent Tartaglia from descending into the coffin in the color of years - to make him laugh.
The loyal servant and friend of the king, Pantalone, offers Silvio a plan to save the patient: firstly, it is necessary to arrange at the court fun games, a masquerade and orgy; secondly, to admit to the prince of the recently announced in the city of Truffaldino, a man deserved in the art of laughter. Having heeded the advice of Pantalone, the king calls the jack of Tref Leandro, his first minister, and entrusts him with the organization of the festival. Leandro was trying to object in the sense that excess clutter would only hurt Tartaglia, but the king insisted on his own.
Leandro objected to the king for a reason. After all, he is in conspiracy with Princess Clarice, niece of Silvio. The villains want to ruin the prince, get married and after the death of Silvio to rule the country together. In their plans, Leandro and Clarice are patronized by the fairy of Morgan, who lost a lot of money by putting on the portrait of the king, and partially recouped by betting on a card with the image of Leandro. She promises to be at the festival and with her spells prevent the healing of Tartaglia.
Truffaldino's amusement - and he was sent to the palace by the magician Celio, who loved the king and did not tolerate Leandro for the same reason that determined Morgan's likes and dislikes - no matter how hard he tries, he cannot even bring a smile to Tartaglia's face. The festival begins, but even here the prince is crying and asks to go back to the warm bed.
True to its promise, in the midst of a masquerade crowd in the form of an ugly old woman, the fairy of Morgan appears. Truffaldino swoops down on her and, showering hail of insults, knocks down. That, hilariously raising its legs up, flies to the ground, and, lo and behold! - Tartaglia is filled with a loud laugh and is immediately cured of all ailments. Having hardly risen to his feet, Morgana angrily casts a terrible curse on the prince - inspires him with an inescapable passionate love for three oranges.
Possessed by a frenzied mania, Tartaglia demands that Truffaldino immediately set out on the road with him to look for three oranges, which, as the children's story tells us, are two thousand miles from their city, dominated by the enchanting giantess Creonta. There is nothing to do, and Truffaldino, following the prince, wears armor, arms himself with a sword and puts on iron shoes. King Silvio makes every effort to keep his son from a crazy undertaking, but seeing that everything is in vain, he faints. Tartaglia and Truffaldino leave the palace to the great joy of Clarice, Leandro and their henchman Brigella, who, venerating the prince already deceased, begin to start their order in the palace.
Brave travelers unusually quickly get to the possessions of Creonte, for all two thousand miles they are accompanied by the devil with furs, constantly blowing wind in the back. The devil with furs disappears, the wind stops, and Tartaglia and Truffaldino understand that they are on target.
But then the magician Celio gets in their way. He unsuccessfully tries to dissuade the prince and his squire from a daring plan, but in the end he explains how to avoid death at the hands of the magical servants of the giantess, and provides everything necessary for this.
Tartaglia with Truffaldino at the gates of Creonte Castle. The Gate with an iron grate blocks their way, but they grease them with a magic ointment, and the Gate opens. A terrible Dog rushes at them with barking, but they throw him a piece of bread, and he calms down. While Truffaldino, following the instructions of the magician Chelio, pulls out a rope from the well and lays the rope in the sun, and then gives Pekarka a heather broom, Tartaglia manages to go to the castle and return from there with three huge oranges.
Suddenly the light fades and the terrifying voice of the giantess Creonte is heard: she orders her servants to kill the captors of oranges. But they refuse to obey the cruel mistress, by whose grace Pekarka for many years tormented her white breasts, sweeping the stove with them, The rope rotted in the well, the Dog was starving hopelessly, and the Gate was mournfully rusted. Why, tell me, why should they now destroy their benefactors?
Tartaglia and Truffaldino safely flee, and the giantess Creonta in desperation calls on her head thunder and lightning. Her pleas were heard: lightning falls from the sky and incinerates the giantess.
The fairy of Morgan learns that with the help of the magician Chelio Tartaglia and Truffaldino stole oranges and, driven by the devil with furs, safe and sound approaching the royal castle, but believes that for Leandro and Clarice everything is still not lost - because she still has in reserve there are intrigues.
Truffaldino, slightly overtaking the prince, sits down to rest and wait for the owner, when suddenly he is overcome by inhuman thirst. Not without difficulty overcoming remorse, he cuts one of the oranges. Oh miracle! A girl comes out of an orange, declares that she is dying of thirst, and really falls to the ground. To save the unfortunate, Truffaldino cuts a second orange, from which a second girl emerges and does exactly the same as the first. Girls give off a breath.
The third of the sad fate of the sisters is relieved only by the appearance of Tartaglia. He also cuts an orange, and a girl comes out and prays for water. Unlike Truffaldino, the prince notes that the whole thing is happening on the lake. Despising the conventions, he brings water to the girl in his iron shoe, and having quenched her deadly thirst, she tells the prince that her name is Ninetta and that, according to the evil will of Creonte, she was enclosed in an orange peel along with her two sisters, the daughters of the King of Antipodes.
Tartaglia immediately falls in love with Ninetta and wants to lead her to the palace as her bride, but she is embarrassed to appear at the court not dressed, as befits a princess. Then Tartaglia leaves her on the lake with a promise to return soon with rich clothes and a courtyard escort.
Here Smeraldin’s snore comes up to unsuspecting Ninetta. From Morgana, Smeraldina received two hairpins: one she had to stick in Ninetta's hair and thereby turn her into a bird; then she was to pretend to be a girl of orange, become the wife of Tartaglia, and on the first night, having stuck a second hairpin in her husband's head, turned him into a wild beast. So the throne would be freed for Leandro and Clarice. The first part of Morgana's plan was a success - Ninetta turned Dove and flew away, and Smeraldina sat down in her place.
A procession emerges from the palace, led by Tartaglia and Silvio. The prince is somewhat discouraged by the change that happened to the bride, but there is nothing to do, preparations for the wedding begin.
Truffaldino, who received the forgiveness of his sins from the prince and the title of royal chef, is busy preparing roast for a wedding feast. The roast in him burns out, as the Dove flies into the kitchen and sends a dream to Truffaldino. This is repeated several times until finally the angry Pantalone appears. Together they catch a Dove, take a hairpin from her head, and the Dove becomes Ninette again.
By this time, the patience of the feasters, who had already eaten snacks and soup for a long time, is full, and all of them, led by the king, burst into the kitchen. Ninetta tells what Smeraldina did to her, and the king, without wasting time, condemns the hrap to be burned. But that is not all. The magician Celio, who appeared from where, exposes the guilt of Clarice, Leandro and Brigella, and the king immediately sentenced all three to cruel exile.
And then, as expected, they play the wedding of Tartaglia and Ninetta. The guests are entertained with might and main: they add tobacco to each other in drinking, shave rats and let them on the table ...
