Farcical and macabre story centering on two elderly sisters who are famous in their Brooklyn neighborhood for their numerous acts of charity. Unfortunately, however, their charity includes poisoning lonely old men who come to their home looking for lodging. The two women are assisted in their crimes by their niece who believes she is Teddy Roosevelt and who frequently blasts a bugle and yells “charge” as she bounds up the stairs. Matters get complicated when their nephew, a theater critic, discovers the murders and another nephew appears after having just escaped from a mental institution. In his adroit mixture of comedy and mayhem, Kesselring satirizes the charitable impulse as he pokes fun at the conventions of the theater.