A merchant named Aegeon from Syracuse is arrested in Ephesus because of a hatred between the two towns. When Aegeon is brought before the Duke of Ephesus, Solinus, he tells the Duke of his sad story.

Aegeon tells the Duke that he was shipwrecked many years ago while sailing with his sons and wife Aemilia and some servants. His two sons were a set of twins, both named Antipholus. His servants for the boys were also twins, both named Dromio.

In a horrible storm Aegeon lost one of his sons, his wife and one of his servants. Aegeon told the Duke that when his remaining son Antipholus turned eighteen, he allowed his son and Dromio to leave Syracuse and search for their twins in Ephesus, but they had disappeared and after five long years of waiting, Aegeon had travelled to Ephesus in hopes of finding them.

Duke Solinus, is stirred by such a tale and so he postpones Aegeon's sentence. The Duke gives Aegeon until dark to find a ransom or else be executed.

This is where the comedy of errors begins and everyone including the twins confuse the identity of the twins.

Antipholus of Syracuse is invited to a dinner at the home of Antipholus of Ephesus and eats with his twin's wife, Adriana.

Also, a merchant named Angelo finishes a gold chain ordered by Antipholus of Ephesus to the Anipholus of Syracuse. When Angelo comes back for his payment later, Antipholus of Ephesus refuses payment because he did not receive any such gold chain so Angelo has him arrested. Adriana and her sister, Luciana, are now completely convinced that Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus have gone mad, so Adriana has her husband and Dromio restrained and taken to a doctor.

So, later Adriana comes across Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse, and believes them to have escaped the

doctor. The two flee and take refuge in an abbey that happens to be close by. Elsewhere, Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus do escape from the doctor, and arrive to beg the Duke for Aegeon's life as he is being led to his death.

Finally Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse arrive with the abbess while everyone else is also trying to give their story to the Duke. It turns out that the abbess is Aegeon's long-lost wife Aemilia.

The two sets of twins get their stories across to the Duke and finally Aegeon is set free and reunited with his wife and sons, Antipholus of Syracuse weds Luciana, and everybody lives happily ever after.