It's three days until upper crust Carolyn Page and Bookington Wells, the latter a millionaire stock broker and divorcé, get married at the lavish Santa Barbara home of Carrie's parents, Wilbur and Linda Page. What the Pages haven't told anyone outside the family, that family who includes Linda's mother, polo playing aficionado Maude Stanley, Carrie's younger sister, recent college graduate Victoria Page, and the loyal houseboy Fugi, is that Wilbur has overextended himself financially, largely from the wedding, with not only bill collectors after Wilbur, but also a process server camped outside the house, he from who Wilbur is hiding. They figure they only have to get to the wedding to have access to Bookie's money to pay off all their debts, which means keeping their money problems especially from Bookie until then. Beyond an encounter that Bookie has with his friend, Fred Green, who has an ulterior motive in inviting Bookie onto his yacht, the events of the three days are largely affected by two unexpected guests: Erasmus Rockwell Pennington - Erp - Victoria's new, largely silent casual beau, a competitive swimmer who, with Victoria, spends much of his time in the Pages' expensive to maintain swimming pool; and Arabella Sykes, a distant country yokel cousin from West Texas whose "gosh darn" persona masks a shrewd woman who gets what she wants, regardless of if it's on purpose or by accident.