In the French Riviera, the spoiled and futile seventeen years old girl Cecile (Jean Seberg) is spending the summer vacation with her father, the widow playboy and bon-vivant Raymond (David Niven), and his girlfriend Elsa (Mylène Demongeot). Cecile has a serious Complex of Oedipus with her father, and they have a quite incestuous relationship. The successful designer and former friend of her mother Anne Larson (Deborah Kerr) arrives in their seaside house invited by Raymond to spend a couple of days with them, and the life of Cecile changes when Raymond proposes Anne to marry him. Full of jealousy, Cecile plots with Elsa to separate Anne from Raymond.

故事发生在风景如画的法国乡间，塞西尔跟随着父亲雷蒙居住在那里。清新的田园景色和无忧无虑的生活令塞西尔成长成为了一个桀骜不羁的少女，她厌恶循规蹈矩的生活，向往着自由和浪漫。雷蒙结识了名叫安娜的美丽女子，两人很快打得火热，但塞西尔却并不喜欢这个有可能成为自己继母的女人，因为安娜的性格对于她来说显得过于保守和严谨，于是，塞西尔找到了父亲的前女友艾尔莎，策划让她从中作梗搅黄雷蒙和安娜的姻缘，却没想到自己看似毫无破绽的诡计最终酿成了悲剧。