Dennis Orphen is a young, clever novelist with a keen eye for a good story. This time, however, his material is drawn from the romantic woes of his closest friend, Effie Callingham. More than a decade earlier, Effie's husband-the superstar writer Andrew Callingham-abandoned her for a younger, prettier woman. In the years since, Effie has stubbornly defended his reputation, clinging to the desperate hope that he might one day come to his senses and return. When Dennis's novel is published, their friendship is put to the test. In his thinly veiled portrait, Effie's private pain is exposed to a scandal-hungry literary society, while Andrew is unmasked as a womanising egoist. Meanwhile, Dennis finds himself entangled in romantic troubles of his own, locked in an uneasy relationship with Corinne, a married woman whose presence provokes both longing and jealousy. Together, Dennis and Effie are forced to confront unpalatable truths about themselves in this immensely entertaining yet deeply poignant satire, set in the seedy underbelly of New York society, from brandy-drenched nightclubs to cab-lined curbs.