re broke, he marries the beautiful Vivien Lancaster for her money, only to find that his muse has abandoned him. Distraught and contemplating suicide, Savage accidentally summons the Devil the polite '
Gentleman' of the title who appears at one of the society parties Savage hates. The two hit it off, but when the party'
s over and Vivien has disappeared, the poet concludes in horror that he must have inadvertently sold his wife to the dark lord. Newly in love with Vivien, Savage plans a rescue mission to Hell that includes Simmons, the butler; Tompkins, the bookseller; Ashley Lancaster, swashbuckling Buddhist; and Savage'
s spirited kid sister, Lizzie, freshly booted from boarding school for a '
dalliance.' Throughout, his cousin'
s quibbling footnotes to the text push the story into comedy nirvana.
.