Brilliant painter Paul Sorodin dies; indecently close to deaths heels come Sorodins relatives, his business manager and others who, their grief not entirely untinged with greed, anxiously await the reading of the will. Sebastian, valet and companion extraordinary to Sorodin, steps in with some jolting surprises for the mourners. One jolt makes it clear Sorodin was not all he had seemed. Also on hand with revelations of their own are an eccentric Russian Princess, an ex-show girl, an Eleventh Hour Immersionist and a mute but effective gentleman named Fabrice. Before they get through, reputations are arranged and rearranged.