In eighteenth-century Paris, France, Marquise de Merteuil entertains her cousin, Madame de Volanges, and Volanges’s teenaged daughter, Cécile, who has just finished convent school. When the Vicomte de Valmont, a notorious lothario, pays a visit, he ogles Cécile while informing Merteuil that he is headed to the country home of his aunt, Madame de Rosemonde. Volanges mentions that Rosemonde has invited her and Cécile to stay as well, and asks Valmont to say hello for her. Alone with Valmont, Merteuil asks him for a favor. Reminding him that her former husband, Bastide, ran away with Valmont’s “fat mistress,” she reports that Bastide now plans to marry Cécile. However, as Cécile’s virginity is of the utmost importance to Bastide, Merteuil wants Valmont to deflower the girl in order to sabotage the marriage. Valmont refuses on the basis that Cécile’s conquest would be too easy. Instead, he plans to seduce his aunt’s houseguest, the beautiful Madame de Tourvel. As she is happily married and strictly moral, Valmont considers Tourvel to be a challenging conquest. Soon after, Merteuil introduces Cécile to Chevalier Danceny, an attractive young music teacher, and suggests she take lessons from him. Arriving at Madame de Rosemonde’s chateau, Valmont attempts to impress Madame de Tourvel by visiting Monsieur Armand, a sick villager, and paying his debts, while Tourvel’s footman spies on him. Although Tourvel is moved by the gesture, she receives letters from friends warning that Valmont is not to be trusted. On a walk one day, she asks how he can be capable of charity and depravity at the same time, and Valmont argues that his good and bad traits are not as extreme as she has been led to believe. He claims she has had a positive influence on him and declares his love for her, but Tourvel runs away. After Valmont’s footman, Azolan, seduces Tourvel’s maid, Julie, Valmont coordinates with Azolan to find the two mid-coitus. Upon doing so, Valmont blackmails Julie, promising to keep her misconduct a secret if she will intercept Tourvel’s letters and deliver them to him. When he reads the letters, Valmont is not surprised to find that Madame de Volanges has written, warning Tourvel that Valmont seduces innocent women. At the opera in Paris, Cécile confesses to Merteuil that she and Danceny have exchanged love letters. Although Merteuil reminds the girl that her marriage to Bastide has been arranged, Cécile complains that he is too old and promises to show her Danceny’s letters. At Tourvel’s behest, Valmont returns to Paris, where he immediately writes her a love letter while lying in bed with a courtesan. The next day, he visits Merteuil and offers to deflower Cécile now that Madame de Volanges betrayed him. Recalling her introduction to society at fifteen, Merteuil says she paid attention to people’s secrets and practiced detachment, distilling the lessons she learned to one overarching principle: “Win or die.” She admits Valmont was the only lover who filled her with uncontrollable desire. Later, Merteuil warns Volanges about Cécile’s “dangerous liaison” with Danceny, revealing the hidden spot where she keeps his letters. While Valmont eavesdrops, Merteuil suggests that Volanges accept Madame de Rosemonde’s invitation and take Cécile to her chateau. Valmont panics, and Merteuil later says that she proposed the trip in order to add hindrances to his challenge. Hinting that sex will be a reward, Merteuil tells Valmont to obtain evidence of Cécile’s deflowering in writing. Tourvel disapproves of Valmont’s return to Rosemonde’s chateau. Disregarding her, he creates a distraction in order to slip a note from Danceny to Cécile. He convinces the girl to give him her bedroom key so he can deliver the letters more discreetly. However, when Valmont visits her bedroom that night, he forces Cécile to have sex with him, warning that her mother would never believe she gave him the key for any other reason. Devastated by the loss of her virginity, Cécile writes to Merteuil, who comes to Rosemonde’s and assures the girl that she should have sex with whomever she wants as long as she marries Bastide. That night, a singer performs at the chateau, and Tourvel smiles when she catches Valmont staring at her. While continuing to sleep with Cécile, Valmont builds a friendship with Tourvel. On a rainy evening, she allows him to enter her bedroom and reveals her love for him. Tormented by guilt over betraying her marriage vow, Tourvel begs Valmont to help her, and although he undoes her bodice, he goes no further. Instead, he informs Rosemonde that Tourvel has taken ill. Alone with Rosemonde, Tourvel admits she has fallen in love with her nephew. Rosemonde replies that men are disloyal and Valmont is worse than most. In the middle of the night, Azolan wakes Valmont to inform him Tourvel has left. Before following her, Valmont tells Merteuil that he likely impregnated Cécile and, although he stopped himself from seducing Tourvel the other night, he will show her no mercy upon his next visit. Reuniting with Tourvel at her home, he reprimands her for leaving Rosemonde’s, but their argument leads to impassioned lovemaking. He later recounts the experience to Merteuil as the best sexual experience of his life, revealing that he pledged his eternal love for her and felt enraptured for at least a few hours. Merteuil’s jealousy becomes apparent as she recalls the love they once shared. Promising his infatuation with Tourvel will not last, Valmont admits that, at the moment, it is out of his control. Rejecting his advances, Merteuil says she will only entertain one last night of lovemaking when she receives the written proof of Cécile’s deflowering that she requested. When Tourvel visits Valmont at home, he purposely allows her to interrupt him and Emilie, a courtesan, who accepts coins from him and snickers as she walks away. Tourvel becomes incensed, but he convinces her that he was only giving the girl money for charity. They sleep together again, and he professes a deeper love for her now that she has become jealous. Sometime later, Cécile writes another love letter to Danceny while in bed with Valmont. Suddenly, she convulses in pain and discovers she is bleeding. While Cécile miscarries, Valmont steals her letter and delivers it to Merteuil, whom he finds lying with Danceny, her new lover. Although Merteuil does not reward Valmont right away, she promises to fulfill their pact the next week. She tells him she still loves him, then relates the story of a man who fell in love with the wrong woman but repeated “it is beyond my control” anytime his friends tried to dissuade him. Valmont goes to break off his affair with Tourvel, lying that he has become bored after four months and loves another woman. He repeats “it is beyond my control” and pushes her around before leaving her in tears. He returns to Merteuil, who accuses Valmont of vanity, revealing that she encouraged his break with Tourvel because he truly loved her. Valmont orders her to end her affair with Danceny but she refuses. In turn, he reveals that Danceny has chosen Cécile over her. Valmont warns that if she refuses sex with him, it is a “declaration of war.” Merteuil opts for war, writing a letter to Danceny to expose Cécile’s affair with Valmont. In the snow, Danceny and Valmont duel with swords. Meanwhile, Volanges and Cécile visit Tourvel, who has taken ill. On her deathbed, she apologizes to Volanges for not heeding her warnings about Valmont. When Danceny stabs him, Valmont pushes the sword further in and discourages him from calling a doctor. He warns Danceny to beware of Merteuil and hands him a stack of letters from the marquise, encouraging Danceny to circulate them after reading. He asks Danceny to deliver the message to Tourvel that their love was the only real happiness he ever knew. Upon hearing of Valmont’s death, Merteuil becomes hysterical. Sometime later, she attends the opera but is booed away by the rest of the crowd. As she removes her makeup that night, the marquise sheds silent tears.