The play opens with a soliloquy in which the audience is introduced to the characters of the play. The first character is the general, who is waking up from a dream in which he has fallen in love with a princess. The audience is shocked to learn that the general is actually the princess's husband, and that he has been forced to marry her in order to save his own life. The play ends with the general and the princess kissing, and the audience realizes that the play is about love and marriage.