After former studio head Mike Wayne is told he is too old to be a producer, he receives word that his twenty-year-old daughter, January, is about to undergo her fifth surgery. Mike flies to Switzerland, but is told that he will be a distraction during her recovery and to go home. Meanwhile, as January is anesthetized, she remembers two years earlier when she suspected her father of having an affair with his leading lady. Hoping to catch Mike in the act, January and her date raced on a motorcycle toward the hotel, only to crash into a stone wall. In the present, Mike flies to Italy, where he woos a wealthy widow, Deidre Milford Granger. Months later, Mike welcomes a healed January to New York City with champagne and a personal message in lights on the side of the Goodyear blimp. That night, January is unable to sleep, and she awakes to find Mike sneaking Deidre into the suite. He informs January that Deidre and he are married, and explains he married her so he could keep January living in style. When January asks what Deidre gets out of it, Mike claims he dresses up her table. The next day, Mike is playing backgammon with Deidre’s younger cousin, David Milford, when January returns from shopping. After introductions, Mike informs January that her old school chum, Linda Riggs, called. January visits her friend and does not recognize her. Linda brags about how much plastic surgery she has undergone and how she slept her way to being the youngest editor of Gloss magazine. Later that night, after dancing and drinking, David propositions January, but she turns him down. The next day, Linda is flabbergasted to hear that her friend rejected David until January admits she is still a virgin. Insisting that January has “Daddy issues,” Linda convinces her to move out on her own and hires her to work at Gloss. Days later, Deidre is outraged to learn that David is dating Karla, an aging Greek actress, and that January is moving out. When Mike stands up for January, Deidre emasculates him by reminding him he is a kept man. Hoping to please Deidre, January goes to David’s apartment and they make love. Later, David is disturbed to realize he took January’s virginity. On the ride home, January tells him that although she likes David, she does not want a relationship. The next day, Deidre has a tryst with Karla. After making love, Deidre tells Karla about the fight with Mike and mentions she put $3 million in a trust fund for January. Afterward, Deidre meets Mike, January and Linda for drinks. They are interrupted when Tom Colt, a famous writer, staggers to the table and demands to fight Mike for making a lousy movie out of his book, but Mike declines the offer. Later, when Tom and his friend, Hugh Richardson, offer to buy January and Linda a drink, Linda invites them to her apartment. Hugh leaves, but Tom is game. At the apartment, January excuses herself so Linda and Tom can be alone. As Linda slips into her lingerie, Tom sneaks out the fire escape and goes to January’s, where he apologizes for treating Mike so rudely. January kisses him, and tells him to call her when he is sober. Hours later, he calls to say he is sober. January and Tom begin dating. One night, she goes to Tom’s hotel and realizes it is the suite her father always rented when she came home from school. She tries to seduce Tom, but he wants to wait until they are not in the room that January was raised in. Later, when January tells Mike about Tom, he begs her not to date men like himself and reminds her that Tom is married with a six-month old baby. January goes to Linda for advice, who theorizes that January’s “hang ups” are due to her oedipal cravings and suggests she sleep with Mike to get it out of her system. That weekend, Tom and January visit the Hamptons and, after they make love, Tom confesses he has been impotent for years and his wife was impregnated by artificial insemination. Tom explains his wife and he have their freedom, as long as they are discrete. The next morning, Tom gets an offer to go to Hollywood, California to adapt one of his books into a screenplay. He asks January to accompany him, but she has promised Mike she would go with him to Palm Beach, Florida. Tom talks her into telling Mike she is writing a story on Tom, and has to go to the west coast. A few days later, Mike arrives in California to find Tom and January in bed. Mike beats up Tom, and gives January thirty minutes to pack; but Tom tells January that, if she goes, she can never come back. Mike returns to Palm Beach alone and asks Deidre for a divorce, explaining that when he married her, he lost his daughter. Deidre complains she will be all alone, but Mike notes that she has Karla and that he is returning January’s trust fund money to her. The two decide to split on friendly terms and board a plane to New York, however, the plane crashes killing both of them. After the funeral, January learns Tom is in New York. She finds him in a bar, where he explains he is breaking up with January because he is old and regrets getting between her and her father. Tom acknowledges they had something special once, but January pleads that “once is not enough.” Tom asks her to leave. January returns to her apartment and finds Linda in hysterics because, after sleeping with her boss, he fired her. January calms her down and gets her to bed, then wanders the New York City streets, thinking of Tom and Mike, then watches the sun as it rises over the George Washington Bridge.