Oscar Wilde's beloved romantic comedy, in which poor Jack Worthing, whose alter ego "Ernest" comes back to haunt him in the form of his rakish friend Algernon Montcrieff, who adopts the false identity to woo Jack's ward Cecily. But Jack-as-Ernest has just proposed to Algernon's cousin Gwendolen, to the great disapproval of her mother, the rigid Lady Bracknell. When the two ladies -- both engaged to Ernest Worthing -- meet up, chaos ensues.