The play involves several elderly Jewish men from the old country, Russia , all members of a small synagogue in Mineola, Long Island . The play opens with the hapless Sexton's daily quest to gather ten males to constitute a minyan required in Jewish tradition to conduct a religious service. This search has suddenly become critical as the granddaughter of one of the men has apparently become possessed by the spirit of a dybbuk , an evil spirit. The grandfather leaves the girl sitting in the office of the temple's young rabbi, who is progressive and not likely to believe in the existence of evil spirits. The men then desperately begin to search for the necessary tenth man so they can hold the prayer service and attempt to exorcise the malevolent spirit . A young non-believing Jewish man wanders into the synagogue suffering a hangover from a night spent getting drunk. He sees the granddaughter sitting semi conscious and is moved and begins to fall in love. The older men are glad to welcome him because they now have the necessary ten males. The rabbi agrees to conduct the exorcism with the aid of an elderly robed man, the " cabalist " who had been praying in the temple.
