Times Square is all a bustle with petty crooks, lazy cops, and especially, gamblers. Gamblers are everywhere, but Nathan Detroit--who maintains the "Oldest Established Permanent Floating Crap Game in New York"--Is short the $1000 he needs to secure a site for a fleet of big players coming into town. Nathan's other problem is his burlesque showgirl fiancée, Miss Adelaide. Her fourteen-year long engagement and Nathan's failure to give up the gambling racket as he promised have given her a permanent, psychosomatic cold. When Sky Masterson, with a reputation as a fast and loose bettor, arrives in New York Nathan devises a plan. Nathan bets Sky that Sky won't be able to convince Sergeant Sarah Brown, local Salvation Army Sergeant and goody two shoes extraordinaire, to go to Havana for dinner. Sky only has 24 hours to succeed or sacrifice the cash. What he doesn't count on is losing his heart as well. Thus, the die is cast, the fates engaged, as songs, dance, and old-fashioned gambling good fun ensue.