After nearly drowning in Narragansett Bay, Diana begins to live her life as Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, an American hero of the War of 1812; she assigns parts to those around her and expects them to play in her drama. She casts her younger daughter, Olive, as her right‐hand man Lieutenant Saunders. To her homophobic daughter, Martha, she assigns the part of Lieutenant Eliot, a cowardly subordinate who refuses to take action in battle, and her ex‐husband Jeff is cast even more unflatteringly as her four‐year‐old son. But to her nurse, Lizzie, she assigns the part of Elizabeth Champlin Mason, Perry's wife, and she begins a romantic affair that would shock her daughters and ex‐husband if they knew. Diana leads her family on a wild ride through the Battle of Lake Erie, raging storms aboard the USS Niagara, and confrontations with unruly officers, all the while growing more deeply attached to Lizzie. But Diana doesn't belong exactly in either world‐‐she isn't fully Perry, and she can't commit to the heterosexual "reality" of her old life. As her daughters try to sway her towards Venezuela‐‐the place of Perry's death‐‐and Lizzie begins to claim her affection, Diana must choose between the fiction she's created and the fiction she's been living her entire life. Driven by her love for her daughters, she reluctantly bids Lizzie goodbye. When she faces Martha’s rage at the revelation of her sexual orientation, Diana embraces her daughter but will not apologize for her identity. She ends the play retracing the steps of a dance the Commodore danced with Lizzie.