The story revolves around two men in VictorianEngland, John (Jack) Worthing (Colin Firth) and Algernon (Algy) Moncrieff (Rupert Everett). Whenever Jack travels to London from his Hertfordshire estate, he says he is going to see his (fictitious) wayward brother Ernest. Once in London he keeps his privacy by calling himself Ernest. This tactic is especially important as his beloved, Gwendolen (Frances O'Connor), declares that she could only love a man named Ernest. Her cousin, Algy, is the one person who knows Jack's secret and one day he travels down to the estate, announcing himself to Jack's attractive ward, Cecily (Reese Witherspoon), as the infamous Ernest. Cecily is enamoured of him and his name, but upon Jack's return home and Gwendolen's unexpected arrival it becomes clear there are both too many and too few Ernests.