 By-the-book Captain Fomento is getting bored in San Tanco, a town where he says nothing exciting happens, and is thinking of resigning. He has even resorted to threatening the sisters with a ticket for their non-licensed old clothing drive, and has given citations to his own mother for jaywalking and his brother-in-law, who happens to be the police chief, for littering. To get him from not resigning, Sister Bertrille tells him that there is a crime wave at Carlos  casino: ashtrays have been stolen. Carlos actually encourages it as they have the advertising "Stolen from Casino Carlos" on them. Captain Fomento just sees Carlos as aiding and abetting thieves. Once the captain raids the casino and threatens to haul off all those with ashtrays in their possession, Carlos decides that he is going to take the Mayor of San Filipe up on his offer to move the casino there as San Filipe does not have a Captain Fomento with which to deal. Sister Bertrille, playing on Carlos  philanthropic nature toward the convent, hatches a plan to keep Carlos in San Tanco. In the captain s presence, the sisters imply that there is one building code violation after another at the convent. The captain promptly condemns the building. When Sister Bertrille tells Carlos what has happened thinking that he will stay and bail them out, Carlos seems non-plussed. In actuality, he sees through the sister s story and is touched by the act and decides to stay. Now they just have to convince the captain that the convent isn t really in a condemned state. They tell him that because they cannot afford to make all the repairs, they are selling the convent to Carlos, who will turn it into a nightclub. For the pious captain, that move would be sacrilege, and thus he overturns his own decision and declares the convent a national historical monument exempt from building code requirements.