The marital turmoil endured by three generations of women, all named Cissie Copitts, provides the basis of this off-beat black comedy from Peter Greenaway. The three Copitts are: 63-year-old Cissie, her 34-year-old daughter Cissie, and Cissie No. 2's 19-year-old daughter Cissie. Their acidic fun starts when they begin collaborating and conspiring to have revenge on their nasty good-for-nothing husbands. Later, a coroner becomes suspicious when investigating three murders, and the women attempt to cover their tracks by seducing the coroner into silence. The coroner's oddball son invents a numerical system to calculate the odds involved in the ever-increasing murders, and throughout the film, numbers tallying the dead begin showing up on objects, living and dead. After a series of bizarre games, the film comes to a strange climax with the final game being a tug of war. By the time the film comes to an end, nearly all the men have met most untimely, watery demises.