Maria, a wealthy widow, invites her long-time dinner companion Richard to spend a month at her house in Scotland. If she still likes him after a month together, they will marry. Their mutual friends, George, Duke of Bristol, and his companion, Helen decide to make it a foursome. The humor in this drawing room comedy contrasts the vain, self-centered Maria and George with their gentle and sophisticated partners.
In this classic eighteenth-century satire, Mr. Puff, a foppish, would-be playwright-critic, invites his literary-minded associates to see a production of his horrendous and nonsensical spectacular, "The Spanish Armada", confident that he has written a great play.