Alonso Quixano, a retired gentleman in his fifties, lives in a section of La Mancha with his niece and a housekeeper. He is obsessed with books of chivalry and believes their every word to be true. Quixano eventually appears to have lost his mind from little sleep and food and because of so much reading.
He decides to go out as a knight-errant in search of adventure. He dons an old suit of armor and renames himself "Don Quixote de la Mancha. A series of famous adventures begin.