France before 1789: When a widow hears that her lover is to marry her cousin's daughter, she asks the playboy Valmont to take the girl's virginity. But first she bets him, with her body as prize, to seduce a virtuous, young, marri...

A petty crook, in search of the clichéd pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, hopes to cash in by befriending the heir to a huge fortune.