LOVE IS WAR is a camp, outrageous, off-beat, high-spirited black comedy, (reminiscent of "Lysistrata"), about the women of Wickatunk who separate themselves from the men, for nine months, when strife breaks out in their town. Wickatunk is an isolated town, where the people are inbred, eccentric, sometimes barbaric, but mostly they are filled with a revelry for life. It is a town where the people speak their minds forthrightly, brashly, energetically and uninhibitedly.

"Florence," head nurse at Wickatunk’s Hospital, unites the women against "Wooly," the mirthfully nasty Mayor of Wickatunk. Florence is appalled by Wooly and the men’s continuous attacks on what they consider to be the riffraff in town, and comes up with a plan for the women to live at her house, with the hope that a separation will cause the men to reform.

The women pack their bags and move to Villanova, the name of Florence’s Victorian mansion, on the outskirts of town. They include: "Artemis," a level-headed optimist, and the wife of the fire chief, "Darrel," she is also an excellent archer; "Stella," played by a man, is Wooly’s wife, and is on the verge of a breakdown; "Harmonia," Stella’s mother; "Aurora," wife of one of the Firemen and the occasional lover of Wooly’s; "Maybelline," town beautician, also married to a Fireman and illicit lover of Wooly’s; Betty," owner of Betty’s restaurant; "Darlene," Stella’s rebellious daughter; "Sophia," sculptor; "Gertie," cynical wife of "Lonesome Pine"; and "Vera," a Hungarian immigrant, married to "Dumbrowski," who gives birth at Villanova.

Their plans for reform through separation are ruined when the women discover that the men are on their way to see "Sugar," a new prostitute in town. Sugar, a woman who has seen it all, and her fourteen year old daughter ":Fury," fell out of a truck as it drove through Wickatunk and have been trying to leave town ever since. Artemis is sent to speak to Sugar about joining the women at Villanova. She disguises herself as a man and waits in a line that runs around the hotel for her turn with Sugar. Sugar and Fury, not inclined to pass up a good deal, agree to join the women in their camp.

The women welcome Sugar at Villanova, but it soon becomes apparent that she has no intention of fitting in with their plans. She refuses to dress in the uniforms that they wear and instead wears an elegant gown that belonged to Florence’s Grandmother and takes every opportunity to irritate and provoke the other women. Fury soon abandons the women and joins the other teenagers at Our Lady of the Grotto, a dilapidated church, which has been their hand-out for years.

What transpires is a series of affronts and madcap attacks by the men on Villanova. The women win the first attack because of Artemis’ drill instruction and their armory. (The men do not realize that the ammunition is only strawberry preserves.) Thrilled by their first victory, the women plan a feast and an evening of festivities. They raise a flag above the fortress, the flag has a sacred cow on it and the letters C.O.W.W., Confederacy of the Women of Wickatunk.

The women are beginning to feel the stress of the separation. They argue amongst themselves and many of them hold particular resentment towards Stella. They claim that their husbands went astray because Stella condoned Wooly’s outrageous behavior. Florence tries to lift Stella’s spirits and shares her book, "I Hear a Symphony." Florence and Stella copy the book for the other women and they delight in such chapters as "Avian Vocalization," where birds sing to the Music of the Spheres, and "Drift," where human figures whirl across the page like planets in a solar system, rotating around the sun. The women see the beauty of life through the eyes of Florence, but then lose the tranquillity of the moment and end up in one big pillow fight.

The men come back a second time bearing gifts and love poems, but the women are enraged by impersonal home appliances and their rap poems about how much they miss their domestic capabilities. When Wooly recites a sensual rhythmic poem, some of the women swoon over Wooly’s male bravado. Stella screams out a thunderous animal yell when she discovers the poem is intended for Fury. Wooly and his bandits scurry away in fear of Stella, who transforms into a raging Medusa, casting off snakes from her head and beating her chest.

Stella retreats to her room and focuses all of her rage on her own book entitled "Towards a Reconstruction of Human Society." In her book, Stella discusses such topics as cannibalistic mating, drawing sketches of the praying mantis as a futuristic model of mating rituals between men and women. Other chapters include: 1) Are Men Human? 2) Don’t Try to Domesticate a Savage Mind 3) Love is an Illusion.

The women are distressed by the contents of Stella’s book but hope it has helped her recover from her severe depression. Darlene, Stella’s daughter, becomes inspired by her mother’s pioneering ideas and remains with Stella at Villanova. Her book isn’t but a few minutes off the press, when Stella looks through a telescope and sees Wooly making love to Fury at Sophia’s Hotel. Stella, Darlene, Sugar, Artemis, and Vera dress in battle garments, and drive an ambulance to the hotel to get Fury. They tie Wooly to a chair and Sugar takes her daughter back to Villanova to be punished. However, remorse is not part of Fury’s vocabulary.

One of Stella’s books falls out of the ambulance and the men find it. They are also horrified by its contents and make it their mission to destroy every last copy. Wooly and his men dress in nurse uniforms and descend upon Villanova. Darrel does not join the group, he is afraid of losing Artemis completely and stays behind at the fire station. Instead of torching Stella’s book, Wooly gets distracted by a group of women playing tag. When Darlene sees Wooly dressed in Stella’s uniform, frolicking on the lawn with the younger women, she attacks him and nearly destroys him. Florence, the Firemen, and some of the women come to Wooly’s aid and he is taken off on a stretcher to Villanova where Florence dresses his wounds.

Soon the fire from the books spreads throughout the vineyard. Darrel races through town, driving his fire truck, and many of the men climb on board. The men and women work together to put out the fire. This spirit of cooperation finally breaks the boundaries between them, and most of the women reunite joyfully with their husbands. Fury appears in a new convertible and asks Stella and Darlene to cut their losses and join her and Sugar in their adventures. Stella and Darlene accept. Wooly recovers from the attack and yells out for Stella. He tries to recover by flirting with his various paramours, but the men and women turn him away.

Florence waves to the departing women, then looks at the happily reunited couples and cries out in joy. The separation has ended.