The action takes place at the famous White Horse Inn on Lake Wolfgang, in the Salzkammergut province in Austria. The Inn is run by a very attractive widow, Frau Maria Gabriella Jospha Vogelhuber, who is always complaining of the trouble she has with her head waiters, no less than the current one Leopold. She remonstrates with him but he is not so easily daunted. However, Valentine Sutton, an English solicitor, arrives at the inn as a guest and it is obvious that Josepha is rather keen on him. When Leopold realises this, he is determined to make things awkward for Herr Sutton. Another guest, John Ebenezer Grinkle, an underwear manufacturer, blusters his way into the story and Leopold immediately starts to use him and his attractive daughter Ottoloine, to upset Sutton. Sutton is already perturbed by the vision of Ottoline, which makes Leopold’s task much easier.