Set in a colonial village home during the opening phase of the Revolutionary conflict, the play tracks a stern spinster who publicly joins a ladies’ boycott of taxed tea while secretly drinking it. Her niece discovers the habit and leverages the secret to secure approval for her engagement to a young Minuteman. The aunt’s longtime attachment to a Tory judge is challenged when he casts his lot with the Patriot cause and is falsely reported arrested; her defense of him kindles both love and newfound political zeal. A faithful domestic supplies comic relief as the piece examines loyalty, social pressure, and shifting allegiances.