Sir Robert Chiltern (Jeremy Northam) is a successful Government minister, well-off and with a loving wife. All this is threatened when Mrs. Chieveley (Julianne Moore) appears in London with damning evidence of a past misdeed. Sir Robert turns for help to his friend Lord Goring (Rupert Everett), an apparently idle philanderer and the despair of his father. Goring knows the lady of old, and, for him, takes the whole thing pretty seriously.

Algernon is a gentlemen from a wealthy family. Algernon's close friend Jack, has a ward, Cecily. Both Algernon and Jack have created alter egos to make life more interesting. Algernon arrives for a weekend visit in the country posing as Earnest. Having heard of Earnest's misadventures, Cicely has developed an infatuation with the rogue, and Algernon's impersonation of him works famously on Cicely. Meanwhile, Algernon's cousin, Gwendolyn, arrives for...