The Importance of Being Earnest recap

Jack Worthing maintains a sober life as guardian to Cecily in the country and a second identity as Ernest in London, where he courts Gwendolen Fairfax. His friend Algernon discovers the deception, visits Cecily while pretending to be Jack's imaginary brother Ernest, and falls in love with her. Both women believe they are engaged to a man named Ernest, and the men's lies collapse when Gwendolen and Cecily meet. Lady Bracknell blocks Jack's marriage because he was found as a baby in a handbag, then approves wealthy Cecily for Algernon. Miss Prism finally reveals that she misplaced a baby years ago; the handbag proves Jack is Lady Bracknell's nephew, Algernon's elder brother, and the son of a man named Ernest. Jack's assumed name is thus his real one, clearing the way for the two young couples, while Miss Prism and Chasuble are also united.

In Algernon Moncrieff's London flat, his friend Ernest is exposed as Jack Worthing, a country gentleman who invented a disreputable brother named Ernest so he could escape to town under that identity. Algernon admits a similar device: an imaginary invalid friend, Bunbury, whose illnesses excuse him from social duties. Jack proposes to Algernon's cousin Gwendolen, who accepts but says the name Ernest is essential to her attraction. Her mother, Lady Bracknell, interrogates Jack and rejects him because he cannot identify his parents: he was found as a baby in a handbag at Victoria Station. Algernon secretly notes the address of Jack's country estate, where Jack's young ward Cecily lives. Jack intends to end his double life, but Algernon has gained the means to enter it.

At Jack's country house, Cecily studies with Miss Prism and has built an elaborate fantasy around her guardian's supposedly wicked brother Ernest. Algernon arrives pretending to be Ernest, and Cecily quickly accepts his proposal; she explains that in her private imagination they have effectively been engaged for months and that she, like Gwendolen, prizes the name Ernest. Jack returns in mourning and announces that his invented brother has died, only to find the supposed Ernest in his home. Both men separately ask Canon Chasuble to christen them Ernest. Gwendolen then arrives and meets Cecily. Their courteous rivalry turns openly hostile when each claims to be engaged to Ernest Worthing. Jack and Algernon enter together, exposing that neither man is Ernest. The women withdraw in solidarity while the two men blame each other for the collapse of their deceptions.

Jack and Algernon persuade Gwendolen and Cecily that their deceptions were motivated by love, and both men announce plans to be christened Ernest. Lady Bracknell arrives, still refusing Jack but rapidly approving Cecily as Algernon's bride after learning of her fortune. Jack, as Cecily's guardian, withholds consent unless Lady Bracknell permits his marriage to Gwendolen. The appearance of Miss Prism unlocks Jack's history: as a nurse, she accidentally placed her infant charge in a handbag and abandoned it at Victoria Station. Jack produces the bag in which he was found. Lady Bracknell identifies him as the lost elder son of her sister and therefore Algernon's brother. Records reveal that Jack was named for his father, Ernest John Moncrieff, making Ernest his true name. The objections dissolve; Jack and Gwendolen, Algernon and Cecily, and Miss Prism and Chasuble are paired at the close.

Miss Prism admits that, while working as a nurse years earlier, she accidentally put the infant in her handbag and her manuscript in the baby's carriage, then left the handbag at Victoria Station. Jack produces the same bag and embraces her as the person who lost him, but Lady Bracknell clarifies that he is actually the elder son of her late sister and therefore Algernon's brother. The army records show that Jack was named after his father, Ernest John Moncrieff, so his London name has unknowingly been his real name all along. His birth now satisfies Lady Bracknell's objection, allowing him to marry Gwendolen. Algernon and Cecily remain engaged, and Chasuble and Miss Prism also form a pair. Jack ends with a new appreciation of how much his real name matters.