Nicky Wells, a TV journalist who is renowned for her hard-hitting reports from the worlds most dangerous spots, is haunted by the disappearance of her fiancé.

When a wealthy scriptwriter and socialite's daughter is murdered, he feels let down by the courts, and so decides to use his powerful position to enable his own form of justice.

This entry in the long-running romance of Jonathan and Jennifer Hart picks up following the death of their beloved friend Max when the Harts go to Montreal for the reading of his will. While there, they learn of a clock Max has left for them with his niece, Marie, which is stolen before they can receive it. Meanwhile, Marie’s partner in their antique shop, Vivienne, meets with Ronnie, her secret lover and the husband of the Harts’ friend Lady Camilla Ashley, and is subsequently killed. The clock seems to be at the center of a mystery which includes kidnapping and murder, and the Harts will have to unravel it if they want to get their gift from Max back.

During the play, which is set in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, backgrounds of characters are discovered during a birthday party. Harold celebrates his birthday party, thrown by six of his closest friends. He becomes increasingly morose about losing his youthful looks and claims that he no longer can attract cute young men. "Cowboy", an attractive blond male prostitute who is "not too bright",is one of Harold's presents. Alan is an unexpected party guest, Michael's allegedly straight college friend,who is in town and anxious to tell Michael something—but hesitant to do so when he sees the group. His six closest friends are: Michael is Harold's "friend-enemy",the host, and a lapsed Roman Catholic alcoholic undergoing psychoanalysis Donald is a conflicted friend, who has moved from the city to spurn the homosexual "lifestyle". Bernard is an African-American, who still pines for the wealthy white boy in the house, where his mother worked as a maid. Emory is flamboyant and "effeminite". Larry, an aggressively sexual homosexual, and Hank, who "passes" as straight, are a couple, who live together but disagree on the issue of monogamy. During the party, one humor takes a nasty turn, as the nine men become increasingly inebriated. The party culminates in a game, where each man must call someone and tell him he loves him. Michael, believing that Alan has finally "outed" himself when he makes his call, realizes that Alan's wife is the caller when he grabs the phone away from Alan. The audience never learns what Alan intended to discuss with Michael in the end.