Before David Garrick, the famous eighteenth century English actor, is to make a guest appearance at the Comédie Française , the French actors hear rumours that he has said he will teach them the art of realistic acting. Determined to teach him a lesson, they take over a roadside inn. When Garrick arrives at the Adam & Eve Inn, however, he instantly recognizes the staff and guests of the inn as actors by their conventional gestures, and decides to play along to see what will happen. During dinner, an attractive young woman arrives at the inn and when the innkeeper tries to send her away because the inn is full, Garrick, thinking this is all part of the joke, offers to give up his room and bunk with Tubby, his servant. While the actors continue to stage duels and mad scenes designed to frighten Garrick, he flirts outrageously with the woman, Germaine. She, however, is not one of the actors, but a runaway countess and she is swept off her feet by his attentions. Finally, Garrick turns one of their tricks against the actors, and after they realize that he knows what they are doing, he attacks their stilted acting styles. He is especially harsh with Germaine. Impressed, the actors insist that he come to Paris after all. Once in Paris, he looks for Germaine, and finds out for the first time that she is not one of the troupe. Upset because he thought real life was bad acting, Garrick refuses to perform until he finds her. Happily, Germaine is in the audience and smiles her forgiveness from the boxes. Garrick then goes on to present a brilliant performance of Don Juan .