Nick Hart is a struggling American artist who lives among the expatriate community in Paris during the 1920s. He spends the majority of his time drinking and chatting in neighborhood cafés, as well as harassing gallery owner Libby Valentin to sell his paintings. He becomes entangled in a conspiracy to fake three paintings hatched by the wealthy art patroness Nathalie de Ville. This results in multiple encounters with American rubber mogul Bertram Stone, who is married to Hart's ex-wife Rachel.