Set in the 1920s, this semi-musical play (contains five piano songs) starts out with two vaudeville troupers who are fleeing New York following their robbery of a theatre box office. They become stranded in the village of Pleasant Corners, Ohio. Broke and hungry, they devise a plan to swindle the local populace by convincing them they have enough talent to produce their own vaudeville show to raise money for a new school. The play tryouts are hilarious: Eloise Findley, the rich spinster, recites "The Bells"; the hillbilly McDowell clan gives their own deadpan rendition of "Little Brown Jug"; and the N.A.G.S. (National Alliance for Good Schools) members form a chorus line. One set, plus a simple inset stage in the last scene.