Baptista has two daughters: Kate and Bianca. Everyone wants to wed the fair Bianca, but nobody's much interested in problem child, Kate. Baptista declares that he won't give Bianca away in a marriage until he's found a husband for Kate, so all the suitors begin busily hunting out a madman who's willing to do it, and they find Petruchio who marries Kate with a plan to tame her, while everybody else begins scheming to win Bianca's hand. Their courting is a war of wit and determination in this send-up of male chauvinism.