Rachel Crothers's satirical comedy follows Susan Trexel, a fashionable and self-absorbed socialite who returns from a trip to Europe newly infatuated with a popular religious movement, determined to apply its lofty principles of universal love and honesty to everyone around her except, conveniently, herself. Her sudden zeal for spiritual improvement collides comically with the messiness of her own life, particularly her strained marriage to her long-suffering, alcoholic husband, whom she alternately neglects and tries to reform according to her new philosophy. As Susan flits between preaching at her friends and avoiding real self-examination, the people in her orbit, including her own daughter, begin to see through the fashionable veneer of her conversion. Crothers uses the comedy to gently skewer the vogue for trendy self-help movements among the idle wealthy, suggesting that genuine change requires more than borrowed slogans. The play's blend of sharp social satire and underlying sincerity about love and responsibility made it one of Crothers's most successful works and a favorite vehicle for leading actresses of the era.

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