[3][4] The play involves several elderly Jewish men from the old country, Russia, all members of a small synagogue in Mineola, Long Island.
The play opens with the hapless Sexton's daily quest to gather ten males to constitute a minyan required in Jewish tradition to conduct a religious service.
The grandfather leaves the girl sitting in the office of the temple's young rabbi, who is progressive and not likely to believe in the existence of evil spirits.
The men then desperately begin to search for the necessary tenth man so they can hold the prayer service and attempt to exorcise the malevolent spirit.
In The New York Times, Arthur Cantor wrote that The Tenth Man "marked a great leap forward from the easy naturalism of the first Chayefsky theater work [...] and displayed his gift for picturesque speech and penchant for themes of mysticism.