Plot

A plain secretary works for a womanizing divorce lawyer who only dates married women. To avoid having to deal with the matrimonial pursuits of any of his potential romances, he offers her financial support if she marries him in name only.

Dowdy Sylvia accepts her boss' marriage proposal, even though he only asked her to avoid marriage to another woman. As a wealthy wife, Sylvia changes from ugly duckling to uninhibited swan and even contemplates having an affair with a man she meets during a trip to Paris.—Daniel Bubbeo <dbubbeo@cmp.com>

Wealthy New York divorce lawyer Gaylord Stanton lives a playboy lifestyle, his confirmed bachelor status as witnessed by he dating Grace Lawrence, a married woman. When Grace announces that she is planning on getting a divorce so that she can marry Gaylord - who would be husband number four - Gaylord comes up with a plan to avoid marrying Grace: enter into a marriage of convenience with someone else under the pretense to Grace that he has been married all this time, the chosen woman being his dutiful Plain Jane secretary, Sylvia Brenner. The problem for Sylvia is that she is secretly in love with him, but doesn't like the relationship games he and his friends play, including those who are married. Sylvia eventually agrees on the conditions laid out, including a sizable cash payment in advance that should allow her to live in a style well beyond her dreams for the one year of their agreement, that she can live anywhere in the world she wants, that he will not ask her for anything that a husband would usually expect of a wife sexually, and conversely that she will not sully the name of Mrs. Gaylord Stanton, meaning that she will continue to live a chaste life that would prevent him, under pressure from Grace, from having legal grounds to divorce her. From her chosen base of Paris, Grace begins to blossom with the help of Reggie Durant, a friend of Gaylord's who admits that he didn't recognize her upon their first meeting, and whose initial attraction to her was in part in seeing a married woman without her husband. But Reggie does end up falling for her and wants to marry her. In considering Reggie's marriage proposal, Sylvia has to gauge if her feelings for Gaylord still exist after all this time. The complicating factor is regardless of Grace, Gaylord has over time fallen in love with Sylvia. Only a meeting between all the players will open each person's eyes to who he/she really wants.—Huggo