A terrible water shortage has crippled the Gotham-like town that serves as the setting for Urinetown. In a mad attempt to regulate water consumption, the government has outlawed the use of private toilets. The citizenry must use public, pay-for-use amenities owned and operated by the corrupt and iron-fisted Caldwell B. Cladwell. The privilege to pee is expensive, draining and dangerous. Anyone who refuses to pay to pee is immediately and without question hauled off to Urinetown. What is Urinetown? Nobody knows, for those who are sent there are never heard from again.

It's really a love story and there's a revolution all before the end of Act I. Will the revolution succeed? Can true love be found in Urinetown? All these questions and more are answered in Urinetown.