Love Will Find a Way is a modern adaptation by Rolf McEwen of She Stoops to Conquer, by Oliver Goldsmith, first performed in London in 1773.
Squire Richard Hardcastle's second wife Dorothy is determined that her spoiled and dull son, Tony Lumpkin, will marry her niece, Constance Neville. This strategy will enable her to keep Miss Neville's fortune, which is a collection of valuable jewels. But the young lovers have other plans, including Miss Neville's intention to marry the handsome George Hastings.
Mr. Hardcastle has definite plans for his daughter Kate. He intends her to marry the son of his old friend, Sir Charles Marlow. It is young Marlow's bad habit to be hesitant in the presence of lovely ladies of his own social status, but he is capable of clever conversation when talking to bar maids and common girls.
The Hardcastle family is expecting the arrival of young Marlow and his friend Hastings. While traveling, the young men stop at the village inn to ask directions. Tony Lumpkin, who is carousing as usual with his drinking buddies, conceives the idea of persuading the men that they have lost their way and will have to spend the night at an inn. He directs them to the Hardcastle house which he highly recommends, although he warns of the eccentricities of the owner and his family.
Neither young Charles Marlow nor Squire Hardcastle realizes that both are victims of a deception, and the squire is much incensed at the bold and rude behavior of his friend's son. George Hastings, as soon as he sees Constance, puts two and two together. The pair agrees to keep Marlow in ignorance and to pretend that Constance and Kate simply happen to be stopping for the night at the inn.
When introduced to Kate, young Marlow can find very little to say and he stumbles over that. In his embarrassment he never once looks at her face. Later in the evening when he sees her going about the house in the plain house dress her father insists that she wear, he mistakes her for the bar maid. She encourages the deception in order to find out if he is really as inept with women as he appears to be. In her bar maid's guise she is pleasantly surprised to find him possessed with a graceful and ready wit. When she reveals herself as a well-born but poor relation of the Hardcastle family, he expresses his love for her.
Comic situations are created when Tony attempts to help Constance and her lover elope with her casket of jewels. Due to a series of ridiculous misunderstandings these efforts come to nothing, and at last Squire Hardcastle sets everything right for both pairs of lovers.
