Lady Blonze is hosting a Christmas party and wants to try a new idea to make it original. Her guest Blanche Boveal suggests a game where each guest has to act as a specific character consistently throughout the visit. At the end, everyone tries to guess each other's characters, and the best actor wins a prize.
The story satirizes the upper-class society's attempts to create novel entertainment and their obliviousness to the potential consequences of their games. Saki's signature wit and dark humor are evident in the absurd situations the characters find themselves in while trying to act out their roles.