 Nick Hart (Keith Carradine) is a struggling American artist who lives amongst the expatriate community in 1920s Paris. He spends most of his time drinking and socialising in local cafe s and pestering gallery owner Libby Valentin (Geneviève Bujold) to sell his paintings. He becomes involved in a plot by wealthy art patroness Nathalie de Ville (Geraldine Chaplin) to forge three paintings. This leads to several run-ins with American rubber magnate Bertram Stone (John Lone), who happens to be married to Hart s ex-wife Rachel (Linda Fiorentino).