Friends Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing frequently need to get away from their onerous social commitments. As a result, Jack, who goes by Ernest in London, leads a double life, and Algy has created an alibi in the form of his best buddy Bumbury, who is constantly near death. However, as Jack and Algy begin courting their targets of adoration, their happily ever afters are put in jeopardy by the men's inevitably coming to light. Oscar Wilde delights in tearing down the façade that characterised the decorum and high-minded manners of Victorian society in his exciting and subversive comedy of odd coincidence, disguise, and ribald misadventure.