Sheridan Whiteside, having dined at the home of the Stanleys, slips on their doorstep, breaking his hip. A tumultuous six weeks of confinement follow. The Stanley living room is monopolized by the irascible invalid; ex-convicts are invited to meals; and transatlantic calls bring a $784 phone bill. The arrival of strange gifts from his friends further destroys domestic tranquility. It would take a stoical housewife to harbor penguins in her library, an octopus in her cellar, and 10,000 cockroaches in her kitchen. When Maggie, his secretary, falls in love with the reporter, Bert Jefferson, Whiteside summons a glamorous actress, Lorraine, to win the affections of the young man away from Maggie. Knowing the girl's charms, Maggie enlists the aid of a clever impersonator who, affecting the voice of Lord Bottomley, whom the actress hopes to marry, asks her by phone to return to him and be married. The ruse almost works...(Dramatists)