Socialite Valentine "Val" Winters (Joan Crawford) is a child of divorced parents and has not seen her sophisticate mother, Diane, (Pauline Frederick), in years. Indeed, Diane had all but forgotten about Val, as the courts awarded sole custody of Val to her father, who had recently died. Val travels to Paris for a reunion where her mother is living as the mistress of André de Graignon (Albert Ritter Conti v. Cedassamare).