In their Harlem mansion, during the early years of the twentieth century, the Collyer brothers share an eccentric life, still within reason. Langley is a concert pianist by profession but prefers his studies of the world’s minutiae, all of which he considers collectible. His older brother, Homer, a former admiralty lawyer and aspiring intrigant, maintains the household and dreams of wilder times. These seem about to begin when the beautiful socialite Milly inserts herself into the Collyer ménage, bringing with her money, secrets and designs on Langley. As the first act unfolds, a wedding is strategized; as it ends, the wedding is aborted. In the second act, the Collyers and Milly are reunited under vastly altered conditions. Time passes, then destroys them, one by one.