Once upon a time, in a place far, far away, there were two adjoining kingdoms, one ruled by King Hildebrand and the other by King Gama. As was often done in the days of yore, the kings, in order to insure peace between their kingdoms, arranged a childhood marriage between their eldest children. Gama’s daughter, Princess Ida (aged 1), was married to Hildebrand’s son, Hilarion (aged 2). King Gama swore to deliver Ida to her husband on her twenty first birthday. (No, she was not born in leap year – we did that one last season!)

As the show opens, Gama (a certifiable misanthrope) has put in an appearance on Ida’s birthday, but sans the Princess. It would seem that somewhere along the way, Ida grew up liberated. She believes not only in the equality of, but in the superiority of, women. To that end, she persuaded her father to give her a spare castle (appropriately called Castle Adamant) in which to establish a university for women.

King Hildebrand (by his own admission a “peppery potentate”) is in no mood to hear excuses from Gama and takes him and his three sons hostage until Princess Ida gives up her strange notions and accepts Hilarion as her husband. If she does not, Hildebrand vows to storm Castle Adamant, hang Gama, or worse!

Prince Hilarion, along with two of his buddies, Florian and Cyril (all full of pithe and vinaigrette), decide to sneak into Ida’s castle to “check things out” and perhaps persuade her (and whatever other young lovelies they come across) to give up this higher education nonsense. Their thought processes are typical of sophomores the world over whose hormones greatly outweigh their worldly experiences.

The three manage to climb the castle wall and steal some academic robes. The grand plan quickly evolves for them to pretend to be women applying for entrance to the university. As luck would have it, the first person they run into is Ida herself. They soon discover that she is not exactly a light-hearted girl, but she does welcome them as new students. 

The first faculty member they run into however turns out to be Florian’s sister and they are forced to confess their subterfuge. In asking her why the women have such disdain for men, she explains that they are taught that man is no more than a “monkey shaved,” while woman is a “radiant being with a brain far-seeing.” Let Darwin chew on that one for a while.

Next they encounter Melissa, daughter of the Vice Principal, who quickly sees through their disguises (and falls for Florian). The Vice Principal herself,