Act I

At the beginning of Three Tall Women, three ladies generically named A, B, and C are sitting around a wealthy, extravagantly decorated bedroom.

A is an elderly woman who insists that she is ninety-one years old. A young, bright woman, C is the lawyer for A's estate. She disagrees, and claims that A is actually ninety-two. B, who seems to be A's caretaker, is fifty-two years old and attempts to mediate the dispute. These are the three tall women of the play's title.

In spite of B's objections and A's protestations, C will not relent. She can't understand why A would lie about one year of her life. "I can imagine taking off ten or trying to," C admits. "Though more probably seven, or five good and tricky but one!? Taking off one year? What kind of vanity is that? Their dispute is the beginning of...