Berowne, one the men in the King's court expresses reservations about the chances of success for the group and reminds the King that he has forgotten an embassy meeting with the Princess of France to be held that same day.

The entourage sets out to meet the princess when the King proves his sincerity and sends Costard, the court's jester to Don Armado to be punished for meeting with a country wench, Jacquenetta.

When the King arrives the Princess and her party are aghast when the lords deny them entrance into the court so in protest, the Princess of France has her embassy camp infront of the court and the Princess and her ladies-in-waiting start to devise a plan on how to avenge themselves.

Elsewhere, Armado makes a deal with Costard. If Costard dellivers a letter to the wench Jacquenetta whom Armado is also in love with, Costard will not be punished.

Costard agrees and on his way to deliver the letter, Berowne asks Costard to take a letter to Rosaline, the Princess of France. As Shakespeare would have it, Costard mixes up the letters and delivers the wrong letters to the two women.

The Lords are not very strong on their word and they end up professing their love for their women. The lords decide to pay a visit to their ladies in disguise but the French ladies-in-waiting don disguises of their own. The jokes continue and finally the confusion begins to sort itself when the Princess of France is informed by a messanger that her father, the King of France, has died. The Princess tells King Ferdinand that she must leave immediately but if he were to spend a year in a hermitage, while she is in mourning, she will marry him.

Each lady-in-waiting gives the same promise to her respective lord in the King's court and they vow to return to Navarre the following year to see if the men's love is true.