A theatre company begins their newest play, about a merchant’s apprentice who falls in love with the merchant’s beautiful daughter — when suddenly a couple in the audience interrupt to complain about plays making fun of honest London middle-class citizens, and demand a good old-fashioned adventure story, with knights, princesses, and giants. The exploits of the Knight of the Burning Pestle — a grocer’s apprentice turned hero — combined with the original plot form the action of Francis Beaumont’s metatheatrical adventure play.