 Gerald Tilby has begrudgingly accepted a dinner invitation from his younger and quite boorish, new-in-town boss. Adding insult to injury, Gerald watches in excruciating silence as his tipsy wife encourages his boss to continue a vicious ribbing sure to sting Gerald for days to come. Yet, with what could have been a demoralizing hands and knees fork retrieval expedition under the table, an encounter moments later in the kitchen with his boss  wife empowers the crafty genius of Gerald s mind to rise above the occasion, reducing what could have been an embarrassing cycle of intimidation into child s play.