Aristophanes

Aristophanes' Lysistrata inspires the contemporary Swedish actresses embodying its characters to end, perhaps, the war of the sexes.

In 1880, Osawkie, Kansas is feuding with rival town Mandaroon over which will be county seat, keeping the town's men away from home most of the time. The last straw is when Matt Davis feels compelled to go on a new foray on his wedding night; his bride Liza (just call her Lysistrata) takes teacher Cassie's advice and organizes a marital strike to make the men-folk stop their nonsense.

After the murder of a child by a stray bullet, a group of women led by Lysistrata organize against the on-going violence in Chicago's Southside creating a movement that challenges the nature of race, sex and violence in America and around the world.

In the contemporary setting, actress Agnes has invited two couples to watch her husband film a television play in which she starred. The first couple are the husband and wife of her husband, the second Uschi, who is also involved in television, and her husband. Agnes's husband is a chemist who invented a new fuel and received a financially promising offer from the United States. His wife fears, however, that the results of his work ultimately benefit the military.