Richard "dick" dudgeon is an outcast from his family in colonial new hampshire. he returns their hatred with scorn. after the death of his father, dick returns to his childhood home to hear the reading of his father's will, much to his family's dismay. anthony anderson, the local minister, treats him with courtesy despite dick's self-proclaimed apostasy, but dick's "wickedness" appalls anderson's wife judith. to everyone's surprise, it is revealed that dick's father secretly changed his will just before he died, leaving the bulk of his estate to dick. dick promptly evicts his mother from her home, but also invites his orphaned cousin to stay as long as she wants. at the end of the act, dick proclaims himself a rebel against the british and scorns his family as cowards when they flee his home.