In Dahomey of gold, devise a plan to move to Africa to colonize Dahomey (present-day Benin) with a group of poor American blacks. Having undergone bad luck, the conmen, Shylock Homestead (played by Bert Williams) and Rareback Punkerton (George Walker) are sent to Florida to con Cicero Lightfoot (Pete Hampton), the president of a colonization society. To his surprise, Punkerton discovers Homestead to be rich, and proceeds to become his trustee to gain access to Homestead's wealth. Once having gained access to Homestead's wealth, Punkerton struts around, acting as a dandy, or a refined figure in black society. Upon realizing Punkerton's schemes,
In Dahomey Homestead refuses to continue to support Punkerton's acts, and the show culminates with a spectacular cakewalk. In other sources, "In Dahomey" is described as following the attempts of two con men (played by Bert Williams and George Walker) charged with recovering a lost heirloom to be flipped for profit. The search for the heirloom crosses paths with a colonized society that looks to settle in Dahomey. The plot of the original source-text differs according to many sources, but all agree there were three primary locales in "In Dahomey": Boston, Gatorville (Florida) and Dahomey. A recovered New York Theatre program printed