Tom Vickery has a secret. Or did. Twenty years ago he wrote a play that his agent, Morris Bonecream, told him was too personally embarrassing to produce. Tom set fire to him. Bonecream sued Tom for arson. Tom disappeared. He is presumed dead, but in reality is living in the Maine woods bottling cranberry brandy and married to Gemma Jones, a woman who knows nothing of his past. Suddenly, Bonecream appears; Tom's play is a huge hit in London under an Englishman's name, Dunlop Sablehand. Bonecream needs Tom's script as evidence to get his commission from the plagiarist. Gemma reads the play and leaves Tom. A character from the play, Shelley Vickery, turns up. She straightens Tom out. The hired man falls in love with her. Gemma comes back to Tom. Bonecream finds God, or someone like him.
In Order of Appearance is a sequel to Gardner McKay’s play Untold Damage.