Dolly Levi, a charming New York widow and matchmaker, tired of being alone, decides to get married again. The man she is interested in is one of her clients, Orazio Vandergelder, from Yonkers, a rich, thrifty middle-aged businessman, owner of a feed store. Hostile to the marriage of his niece Ermenegarda with the young Ambrogio, whose profession as a painter is synonymous with poverty for him, Orazio turns to Dolly, so that she can distance the girl from her lover. Having gone to Yonkers for this purpose, Dolly, learning that Orazio intends to go to New York to ask for the hand of the pretty milliner Irene Mallow, decides to ruin his plan. Having achieved this goal with the unwitting help of Barnaby and Cornelio (Orazio's two clerks), Dolly makes sure that the man finally notices her and asks for her hand in marriage. Converted to the idea that money is not the only purpose of life, Orazio accepts Ermenegarda's marriage to Ambrogio, while the two clerks find happiness, one in the arms of Irene, the other in those of her friend Minnie.
