The year is 1898 and the place is an over-sumptuous parlor in New York. Mrs. Mowbrey a mature wealthy woman with a history to bury makes a plan—she'll befriend her estranged niece and fiancé and their subsequent marriage will provide her own entre into respectable society. Or at least that's what she tells the young couple.
In Shakespeare and the Bible
uncovers a mystery inside a melodrama inside a meeting. Mrs. Mowbrey invites her niece Katy and her niece's fiancé Mr. Lubbock to her home separately and unbeknownst to each other. Mr. Lubbock arrives first and is asked to become Mr. Mowbrey's attorney. Katy comes later to meet this aunt who has fallen from her family's good graces for unknown reasons. With all three in the room it becomes apparent that Mr. Lubbock and Mrs. Mowbrey share something that's not deemed proper for Katy to know. Yet Katy insists they tell her. When Mrs. Mowbrey leaves the room insisting that they work things out among themselves the mystery looms large. Katy discovers their secret and the true intent of Mrs. Mowbrey's agenda hangs in the balance: Did she intend to use her wealth to buy respectability and family relations? Or exact revenge?