A wealthy young businessman consecutively falls in love with a classy English woman (Pearl), a Russian sculptress (Athalia), and a naive working-class girl (Lucie).
Count Moffat becomes infatuated with Nana, a presumptuous stage actress, vulgar, hypocritical and promiscuous, willing to do anything to succeed.
An art historian has an affair with a young saleslady while his disaffected wife cheats on him in turn.Both illicit relationships end in little boys being born around the same time.