Kaufman and Hart's comedy follows Newton Fuller, a New York advertising man, and his wife Annabelle, who impulsively buy a picturesque but dilapidated Pennsylvania farmhouse said to have once hosted George Washington, dreaming of a peaceful escape from city life. Their romantic vision quickly collides with reality as leaking roofs, a collapsing well, and a parade of eccentric, unhelpful neighbors and workmen turn the renovation into an endless, expensive ordeal. Complications multiply with the arrival of Annabelle's meddling, tightfisted Uncle Stanley, whose visit threatens to expose secrets and further upend the household's fragile peace, while the couple's teenage daughter adds her own romantic entanglements to the mix. Running through the comedy is a good-natured satire of the American dream of country living, as the Fullers cling stubbornly to their fantasy even as every practical sign suggests they should cut their losses. Kaufman and Hart's sharp ear for comic dialogue and escalating farce made the play a popular success and a natural fit for community theaters staging a broad, character-driven ensemble comedy.

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