In 1880, men from three Kansas towns, Osake, Jones City and Mandaroon - feud over which one gets to be the county seat.

Taking their cue from the play Lysistrata by Aristophanes, all of the women, including young Birdie and spinster Cassie, decide to join Liza in going "on strike" against the men, holing up in a fort and locking them out.

Job McClure (Bert Lahr) then sings the title song "The Second Greatest Sex".

In the ensuing ruckus, the safe is knocked off the wagon and goes rolling down the hill to sink in a pool of quicksand.

The women now force the men to truce, and to choose a completely new spot for the county seat.