Owner Basil Fawlty, his wife Sybil, a chambermaid Polly, and Spanish waiter Manuel attempt to run their hotel amidst farcical situations and an array of demanding guests.
A confidence trickster comes to stay at the hotel, just after Basil has taken an ad in a posh magazine to upgrade the clientele.
The Fawltys take a holiday and leave Polly and Manuel to run the place just as O'Reilly's builders come to redo the lobby.
Basil wants 'none of that' going on in his rooms and suspects some guests and Polly of carrying on.
Some inspectors are in town and Basil gets paranoid, so he alternately fawns over and offends his guests.
To bring the right type of crowd into the hotel Basil establishes a Gourmet Night.
Sybil goes into the hospital for toe surgery, leaving Basil to cope with a fire drill single-handed. After a couple of blows on the head, Basil tells some German guests where Germany went wrong in WWII.
