B. J. Harrison Reads Right Ho, Jeeves recap

Bertie Wooster returns from Cannes determined to resist Jeeves's influence and to solve several friends' troubles himself. At Brinkley Court, Gussie Fink-Nottle cannot declare his love to Madeline Bassett, while Tuppy Glossop and Angela Travers have broken their engagement. Aunt Dahlia also needs money from her husband to keep her magazine afloat and cannot risk losing the chef Anatole. Bertie's remedies depend on alcohol, jealousy, and denying people dinner. They produce Gussie's scandalous school speech, multiple broken engagements, Anatole's threatened resignation, and a hungry household furious with Bertie. Madeline even decides she must marry him when she separates from Gussie. Jeeves finally uses a false job offer for Anatole to bring Tom Travers, Dahlia, and both couples into line. Bertie escapes marriage, concedes that Jeeves was right, and discovers that Jeeves has disposed of his disliked white jacket.

Bertie Wooster is a wealthy, well-meaning bachelor whose efforts to help friends and relatives frequently create larger social problems. Jeeves, his valet, combines broad knowledge with a talent for arranging people and events, and has repeatedly rescued Bertie from failed schemes and unwanted engagements. Bertie values those rescues but remains eager to prove that his own judgment can equal Jeeves's. Aunt Dahlia Travers is one of his favorite relatives, although her requests are forceful, and Tuppy Glossop is both a friend and a recurring source of conflict.

Bertie Wooster returns to London wearing a white mess jacket that Jeeves plainly dislikes. Relations between master and valet cool further when Bertie learns that his shy friend Gussie Fink-Nottle loves Madeline Bassett. Jeeves has already considered the problem, but Bertie rejects his proposed method and declares that he will direct the affair himself. Aunt Dahlia then calls Bertie to Brinkley Court. Her daughter Angela has quarreled with her fiancé, Tuppy Glossop, during a holiday at Cannes, and Dahlia wants the couple reconciled. Bertie approaches the gathering confident that a few firm interventions can unite both pairs and show Jeeves that his advice is no longer indispensable.

At Brinkley Court, Bertie finds the emotional situation less tractable than expected. Gussie remains unable to speak naturally to Madeline, whose intensely romantic conversation unsettles Bertie. Tuppy and Angela are each too proud to end their quarrel. Dahlia has a separate crisis: she needs Tom Travers to supply money for her magazine, but her frugal husband is unlikely to agree. Her strongest advantage is his attachment to the cooking of Anatole, the household's famous chef. Bertie begins constructing schemes around jealousy and appetite, certain that making people fear a loss will force them to recognize what they want. Jeeves remains available but detached after Bertie insisted on handling matters alone.

Bertie encourages Gussie to strengthen his courage with alcohol before speaking to Madeline and before delivering prizes at Market Snodsbury Grammar School. He also tries to reunite Angela and Tuppy by making each jealous. The plan brings Bertie himself into the misunderstanding when Madeline interprets his attentions as evidence that he loves her. Meanwhile, the use of hunger as a romantic stimulant spreads through the house: meals are refused or missed in the expectation that an empty stomach will make Tuppy more receptive to Angela. Instead, resentment grows, and Bertie becomes the person several participants blame for their discomfort.

The attempt to fortify Gussie culminates at the school prize-giving. Far more intoxicated than Bertie intended, Gussie abandons formal dignity, insults local worthies, gives the boys improper encouragement, and turns the ceremony into a public scandal. His new boldness does at least allow him to address Madeline, but it also makes his behavior unstable. Back at Brinkley Court, Bertie's attempts to manage everyone through missed dinners cause further confusion. Anatole believes himself insulted and threatens to leave. That prospect alarms Dahlia because Tom's affection for the chef's meals is central to her effort to obtain money for the magazine.

Bertie's campaign collapses into several simultaneous emergencies. Angela and Tuppy remain at odds, and Gussie's conduct produces a rupture with Madeline. Because Madeline believes Bertie has long adored her, she nobly offers to marry him if Gussie will not, placing Bertie in the very engagement he least wants. Hunger, wounded pride, and confusion have made the residents of Brinkley Court hostile toward their self-appointed strategist. Dahlia still faces the loss of Anatole and the possible failure of her magazine. Having exhausted his own ideas, Bertie finally abandons his contest with Jeeves and asks him to restore order.

Jeeves produces a telegram suggesting that Anatole has received an attractive offer from another household. Fear of losing the chef prompts Tom Travers to provide the money Dahlia needs, while the common emergency helps Angela and Tuppy drop their quarrel. Jeeves also guides Gussie and Madeline back into their engagement, releasing Bertie from Madeline's promise to marry him. With the couples reconciled, the magazine financed, Anatole retained, and dinner again available, Brinkley Court settles down. Bertie admits that Jeeves's judgment has prevailed and asks him to resume his usual role. Jeeves then discloses that Bertie's white mess jacket has been sent away and cannot be recovered. Bertie accepts this final assertion of authority.

Jeeves returns to command and resolves the deadlock with a fabricated telegram implying that Anatole has been offered a position elsewhere. The prospect of losing the chef induces Tom Travers to give Dahlia the money her magazine needs, while the same crisis draws Tuppy and Angela back together. Jeeves also arranges for Gussie and Madeline to reconcile, freeing Bertie from Madeline's promise to marry him if her engagement failed. The various hungry and angry residents finally receive dinner, and Brinkley Court returns to order. Bertie recognizes that his own interventions created most of the disaster and restores Jeeves to his former advisory role. The white mess jacket that began their disagreement is ruined while supposedly being pressed. Bertie accepts its loss and acknowledges the valet's victory.