A resourceful gentlewoman uses her late father's skill to cure a king’s wasting illness and obtains, as reward, the right to choose a husband; she selects a young nobleman who spurns the idea and departs to war, setting impossible conditions for marriage. The woman pursues him, disguises and stages a bed-trick with allies to secure consummation, and exposes a boastful companion while testing the nobleman's fidelity and honor. The play examines social rank, gendered agency, deception and the ethics of means used to achieve love, ending in a reconciliation that leaves questions about consent and the costs of cleverness.