A corn-flower, blue-eyed housewife steps from the frying pan into the fire, as she finds romantic relief from her sadistic lawyer husband with a seductive, charmer.

New York housewife Tina Balser resents the manipulation of her nagging husband, Jonathan, a status-seeking attorney, and the complaints of her spoiled daughters, Sylvie and Liz. At a gallery opening egocentric author George Prager propositions her, and she subsequently becomes his mistress. During an afternoon rendezvous, however, Tina's aggressive lover reveals certain affinities with her abusive husband. As the affair disintegrates, one of Jonathan's pet projects, a fabulous party, aborts. In its aftermath he confesses to Tina that he has mismanaged the couple's savings, endangered his position in the firm, and committed adultery. Tina responds by leaving George, whom she labels a latent homosexual, and participating in group therapy.