Shaw's masterful sense of comedy and social satire explores the conflicting philosophies of father and daughter. Major Barbara is Barbara Undershaft (Cherry Jones), the daughter of a wealthy munitions magnate, is a woman of conscience who embraces religion as a means of salvation. Andrew Undershaft (David Warner), her father, is a social philosopher of opposite opinion of her belief in saving the outcasts of society. In contrast, he is of the opinion that the greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty.