When the founder of Hudsucker Industries leaps to his death from the 44th floor boardroom window the board of directors panics. But there is a plan: install a complete imbecile as president of the company and devalue the stock so the board can acquire a controlling interest for themselves. But where can they find such a guileless patsy? Enter Norville Barnes. Fresh off the bus from Muncie, Indiana, as a graduate of the 1958 class of the Muncie College of Business Administration, Norville is ready to start at the bottom and work his way up to the top of the corporate world ... he just never imagined it would happen so quickly.