Guitar-playing drifter Valentine Xavier arrives in a small Southern town, where he finds employment with Lady Torrance, an unhappily married storekeeper with a tragic past. But Valentine's enigmatic presence causes tensions in the town that explode into violence.

Orpheus Descending was Tennessee Williams's first full-length play. The title invokes the Greek myth of Orpheus, who tried in vain to rescue his wife Eurydice from Hell. In this play, Hell is a small Southern town full of hypocrisy and racism; Orpheus is a drifter in a snakeskin jacket; and Eurydice is Lady Torrance, a woman trapped in a loveless and violent marriage.