Every year, rich people and celebrities gather for the race week in Baden-Baden - and with them the most valuable jewelry and the finest diamonds. This comes in handy for philanderer Konni. His extravagant wife Franziska has a lover and wants to divorce him. Too bad for Konni, as he only married her for her millions! So he comes up with a plan to relieve the rich and beautiful of their fortunes during a party thrown by the Consul von Düren, whose wife Babette he himself is having an affair with. With the help of his former prison brothers Georg and Boris, he plans an ingenious coup...

Paris at the end of the 19th century: Former soldier Georges Duroy is practically penniless after leaving the army when his old comrade Charles Forestier helps him get a job as a reporter for the newspaper "La Vie Française." Duroy's career takes off, but he owes his success not only to his writing skills, but above all to his charm with the ladies. He unscrupulously exploits his numerous female acquaintances. Through strategic marriages, "Bel Ami" rises to the top of Parisian society.