 Henley Davenport is arrested for drunk & disorderly, and his sister Eugete wants him released into her custody. Elmyra Carroway, Henley s intended, argues that he should be in her care instead. James Jeffson s wife accuses him of bigamy. However, the charge escalates to polygamy when six women claim to be Mrs. James Jeffson. Things turn serious when Jeffson dies in his cell of arsenic poisoning.