A stranger arrives at Mrs Goforth's Italian villa, a young poet known as the Angel of Death because he has been present at the decease of a number of elderly ladies. She thinks that he will afford her a final fling before she dies, but it turns out that he is there as a spiritual rather than fleshly guide and merely wishes to comfort her during her declining years. The author describes his play as "a comedy about death."
The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore premiered at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York City in January 1964 under the direction of Tony Richardson.