Plot summary

Joanna and Walter are the two newest residents in Stepford. Joanna, although a "housewife," is intelligent and creative - taking an interest in photography: she wants to be "remembered". Like many of the men in Stepford, Walter is an obviously inadequate husband. Conflict occurs when Joanna complains that Walter is making all of the decisions for them. Walter joins the mysterious Stepford "Men's Club", which takes place in an old manor house, which is heavily guarded. Joanna is disturbed that many of the Stepford wives spend their lives in domestic servitude, are unintelligent and wear flowery print dresses. Her friend Bobbie thinks that it might be due to something in the water. At a consciousness-raising group that Joanna starts, the wives begin discussing spray starch and cleaning products. The awful truth is that the men of Stepford are replacing their wives with compliant domestic sex robots. Gradually, Joanna begins to realize that all of her friends have been replaced, and that she is in great danger. Her psychiatrist advises that she take the kids and get "the hell out of Stepford", but the men are hiding Joanna's children. Can she find them, or will she be murdered and replaced by RoboJoanna?—Paul Baker