A repressed junior librarian, frustrated with looking after her sick father, finds herself drawn into a dangerous relationship with the man who might have murdered her mean-spirited grandmother.

An elderly homosexual and a married woman are both intrigued by the same man.

While holding a séance for skeptical novelist Charles Condomine, self-proclaimed 'spiritualist medium' Madame Arcati inadvertently summons the spirit of his deceased first wife Elvira, leading to an increasingly complex love triangle with Ruth, his current wife of five years.

A witty but dissolute peer is about to engage as his secretary a young man who turns out to be his illegitimate son. Then he proceeds to make advances to the young man's fiancée.