The Ruling Class

Following Lord Ralph Gurney's accidental death, his son Jack Gurney inherits his estate including his title, the Earl of Gurney. Jack has been away for seven years during which he had no contact with his extended family. He believes he was in a monastery, but he was actually in a psychiatric hospital as a voluntary patient at his father's request; as a paranoid schizophrenic, he believes that he is Jesus Christ. In leading a movement for eternal love, the latter issue of all men being equal might be more problematic for his family, who are part of the so-called ruling class, than his belief that, in his own words, when he prays to God he hears himself; any of life's problems he places inside his "galvanized pressure cooker." His paternal uncle and his family are the most concerned about Jack taking over the peerage and the vast estate, and what that would do to the historic Gurney name. Competing interests in the family work toward two opposing possible options to deal with the situation: to have anyone that they can manipulate with a Gurney name take over, at which time they can recommit him for good; or to see if his long-time psychiatrist at the hospital, Dr. Herder, can get him to face reality. Jack may, however, throw them all for a loop.