A young Athenian’s attachment to a woman of foreign origin provokes his father’s opposition and sets off a chain of schemes by servants and friends. Through a series of comic misunderstandings, hidden relationships, and fabricated tests, characters maneuver to delay, disguise, and ultimately expose true identities and intentions. Drawing on Greek New Comedy conventions, the play emphasizes family authority, the cleverness of dependents, and the social and legal obstacles to marriage, resolving its tensions by means of revelation and reconciliation that restore social order and permit the desired union.