An American in Paris at the turn of the nineteenth century, John Durham pays court to an old flame, Fanny Frisbee, now married to the dissolute Marquis de Malrive. Devoutly Catholic, Fanny's husband is unlikely to grant her a divorce or relinquish custody of their young son, who is heir to the family title. When the Malrive family, urged by Fanny's enigmatic sister-in-law, Madame de Treymes, agrees to a divorce, John must decide whether or not he will pursue a future with the woman he loves, but which forces her to give up her son. Contrasting the simplicity and practicality of John's brownstone in New York with the decadence and beauty of the Saint-Germain district of Paris,