World War III is roaring to life, and the Drum and Brute families have crammed in a wedding at the last possible moment. In the courtyard of a ritzy French hotel, patrician friends and family of the couple chatter idly about the match and listen to radio reports of the conflict with growing anxiety. The groom, Sir Layamon Brute, Marquess of Yore, they say, will die when he leaves to fight in the next several days. All they can talk about is where they will go to stay safe as the fighting escalates. A dinner show begins in the pool at the center of the courtyard as the Marquess and his unenthusiastic bride, Felicia Drum, squabble. Mermaids swim and dance below the water line, and the aristocrats debate whether they really are supernatural creatures. Later, a mock ship sails in, and an actor announces via song that he is a prince from a faraway land. A mermaid princess swims in, and the two begin to court one another. Piano music envelops the audience. As the show ends, the aristocrats lament the advent of war once more and try to fortify themselves for a changing world. Felicia, however, is still rapt. The only thing she loves in the world, she tells them between peals of laughter, is reality.