Pardoned by the Fairy Queen for her crime of marrying a mortal, Iolanthe returns to Fairyland to find all in disarray. Her son, Strephon, a fairy only from the waist up, loves Phyllis, a Ward in Chancery, who finds herself beset on all sides by eligible noblemen vying for her hand in marriage. Can Iolanthe help Strephon and the formidable fay overcome the machinations of the Lord Chancellor and his posse of persistent peers, or will Strephon and Phyllis remain apart forever?