Two cousins are challenged by their eccentric uncle to prove that their fiancées are faithful, but things go awry when each starts to fall for their opposite’s partner.

SYNOPSIS:

Graham and Peter Charlton (both 30s) are cousins who together run a small advertising firm. They are, however, as different as can be. Graham is a happy-go-lucky chancer who can be slapdash in his methods but is very good at wooing clients (although not necessarily the ones who can be relied on to pay). Peter is a hard worker, who is extremely precise, methodical and, some might say, boring.

Graham’s girlfriend is Fiona, an outgoing, feisty individual, and Peter’s is Dorothy who is just as thoughtful and dependable as he is. Needless to say, both men seem to have found their perfect matches. The cousins are very close and like to do everything together so they plan to propose to their girlfriends at the same time at a concert. Both women say “yes” and all seems right with the world.

Things start to unravel as they make their plans for a double wedding with Fiona wanting the grandest dress and the most expensive venue. Peter is worried that they cannot afford these, while Graham is more relaxed as he says they have just signed an enormous deal. When Peter discovers it is with a company that is notorious for not paying up he becomes even more anxious. Suddenly an e-mail arrives from a “William” that leaves the men confused as it reveals a lot of knowledge about them.

Things become clear when their Uncle Bill arrives, who they have not seen for ten years. Bill describes how both of their mothers walked out on their fathers, and that he wants to be sure that their fiancées will not do the same. He therefore proposes a little test for the women, by hiring a private detective to ascertain if they are faithful. Bill says if the women pass the test, he will be happy the men have picked the right partners and will thus give them his fortune of two million dollars.

Graham is willing to accept the challenge, thinking it is easy money, but Peter thinks there is something distasteful in even suggesting that they suspect their fiancées could be disloyal. He also does not trust Bill who used to drink and gamble, and who has had no contact with them for a decade. Bill claims he has turned his life around, and this is his way of trying to make amends, but he admits that his past is catching up with him and that he is a dying man. He says if the men do not accept the challenge, when he dies his fortune will go to the local horse sanctuary, but Peter still rejects his offer.

Driving home that night through torrential rain Graham is trying to persuade Peter to accept the challenge when their car skids off the road and overturns. Both men awake in hospital a few days later with their faces looking slightly different, and it turns out that they had to be reconstructed after the crash (this effect could be achieved by applying subtle prosthetics at the start and removing them here). It also transpires that Bill found out about the crash and has been at the hospital for the past few days, worrying about them and approving the emergency surgery as their next of kin.

Graham tries to persuade Peter to accept the challenge, arguing that they would not need to hire any detectives now. With their slightly different appearances each could test their fiancé, pretending to be their own brother. Peter still refuses, but then discovers that the company they were awaiting a huge payment from has gone bankrupt. As this leaves them with no money Peter reluctantly agrees.

They sign an agreement with Bill that stipulates “Peter and Graham Charlton will attempt to woo Dorothy Walton and Fiona Johnson until William Charlton is satisfied that the aforementioned women have proved their loyalty to the aforementioned men. At this point William Charlton will give the men two million dollars.” Bill says the men are not allowed to tell the women about the challenge, and insists on them wearing pin-pick cameras so he can see that they are genuinely trying to woo them.

Peter meets Dorothy pretending to be his own brother Robert, and Graham sees Fiona pretending to be his brother Geoff. The men try to crack onto the women, but both women are put out that the men are behaving like this, and reject them out of hand. The men are happy because they have proved their fiancées are steadfast, but all the same Peter is perturbed that Dorothy should have described him (her fiancé after all) as “nervous and inept with girls”. Graham is similarly disturbed that he apparently lacked the charm for Fiona to fall for him.

The men show the footage of their encounters with the women to prove they were trying to woo them, and to ask for their money, but Bill says he is not satisfied yet. Based on the wording of the agreement Bill says he can insist on Graham attempting to chat up Dorothy, and on Peter trying it on with Fiona. Peter feels Bill is moving the goalposts, but Graham is not worried as if they could not win their own fiancées, surely they will fail with each other’s.

Dorothy meets Graham (still pretending to be Geoff) and Fiona sees Peter (thinking he is Robert). However, both women are in an anxious state as they have still not (as far as they are aware) seen their fiancés since the car crash, which has only ever been reported to them. As a result, Dorothy finds herself warming to Graham who is cheeky and fun and can make her forget all her troubles. Fiona, on other hand, is searching for something deeper and consequently finds herself attracted to Peter. However, she gently tells Peter that while it would be all too easy in the moment to sleep with him, she is committed to Graham and so suggests they both simply walk away from each other. A drunk Fiona, on the other hand, is about to sleep with Graham when a disturbance breaks the magic of the moment and she too decides to leave.

Bill sees Graham and is furious. He knows what happened the night before between Graham and Dorothy from the camera Graham was wearing, and he created the disturbance to ensure that a disaster was averted. He is angry because he does not see this as Dorothy being unfaithful, but rather as Graham being at fault in taking advantage of her when she was drunk. Bill is desperately trying to think what to do to remedy the situation, when Peter arrives. Peter sees the footage from the night before, and thinks Graham and Dorothy actually went through with sleeping with each other. He leaves in tears, and assuming that Bill and Graham are collaborating behind his back.

A distraught Peter (still as Robert) goes to see Fiona who takes some steps to cheer him up, and teach him to be more confident and trusting. Dorothy then sees Fiona, saying she feels guilty that she nearly slept with Geoff. Fiona tells her ‘nearly’ is nothing to worry about, but then Dorothy is angry to discover that Fiona has been seeing Robert while all the time pretending she has done nothing wrong.

In a determined mood Dorothy goes straight to Graham (still thinking he is Geoff) demanding sex but he tells her he does not want it. While the night before he got carried away and was resorting to the only way he knew how to express his feelings, now he realizes just how much he truly respects Dorothy. Once she has calmed down, Dorothy is quite relieved and they end up reading a book together. However, one part of it is extremely sad so they comfort each other. This means that when Peter walks in on them it looks as if they are in a passionate embrace.

Peter is furious but, with Dorothy in another room, tells Graham that he realizes now that they really need Bill’s money. Their only chance to obtain it he feels is to tell Dorothy and Fiona the truth so they can all pretend that everything is fine, while swearing them to secrecy so that Bill never finds out. Graham is shocked that Peter, who was once so reluctant to accept the challenge at all, is now planning to cheat Bill out of his money. During the course of the argument, Peter addresses Graham as “Graham” rather than “Geoff” and Dorothy and Fiona (who arrives at the door) overhear this and become confused. Suddenly Bill telephones and says the men may tell the women everything (Peter and Graham had forgotten they had their cameras on).

The men explain everything to the women, who are angry at what they have been put through. However, as the conversation continues Dorothy finds herself defending Graham while Fiona defends Peter’s actions, saying they all need money so he was really looking out for all of them. From this they realize that they really do love, and wish to marry, their new partner, and Peter has an idea that means they will still get Bill’s money.

Peter, Graham, Fiona and Dorothy meet with Bill, and Peter insists on receiving Bill’s money because by the terms of their agreement the women did prove their loyalty to the men; they each merely swapped which of those two men they were loyal to. Bill is shocked that Peter should have become so money grabbing, and angry that he seems to have learnt to trust everyone apart from Bill himself. As Bill is venting his rage, he has a heart attack.

At the hospital, waiting to see Bill, Peter and Graham tell Dorothy and Fiona that Bill’s money will now be going to the local horse sanctuary. Dorothy says she has visited it, and it could really do with the money, so it is not a bad thing.

Fiona tries to comfort Peter by being silly and lightening up, but this actually annoys him as he says that this is simply not him, and he wants to feel guilty about Bill’s heart attack. At the same time, Dorothy sympathizes and empathizes with Graham who grows increasingly irritated as he needs someone who can just take him away from his troubles rather than making him dwell on them. At this point, both realize that it is actually the other who is really on the same wavelength as them and who they really love, and they finally return to their original pairings.

As they are about to see Bill, the four agree that they are not going to talk about money with him. They work out that if they all worked really hard together they could get their company started again for $10,000. When they see Bill, however, he apologizes to them. He genuinely wanted to see them happy, but realizes he was wrong to try to control them. He says he is going to give them his two million dollars, irrespective of who they marry, but he is pleased when they tell him that they are going to marry their original partners after all. He is then about to tell them something else when he dies.

The only mourners at Bill’s funeral are Peter, Graham, Dorothy and Fiona. After the ceremony Peter and Graham talk to the priest and he is surprised to learn that they do not know about the double wedding, which it transpires Bill had organised and entirely paid for before he died. Even though Bill arranged everything with the priest before Peter and Graham saw him in the hospital, the priest does have it down that Peter will marry Dorothy and Graham will marry Fiona. The men are overjoyed as it proves that their uncle really did know them well.

At the wedding ceremony Peter and Graham tell the congregation that they and Dorothy and Fiona want to show the same generosity in their own lives that Bill showed towards them. Therefore, after the ceremony they present the local horse sanctuary with a check for $1,990,000, amidst smiles and laughs all round.

FIDELITY CHALLENGE