Joel Coles was working as a screenwriter who’s been working in Los Angeles since he moved to the city six months ago. His mother had been a famous actress and Joel had grown up commuting between New York and London with a distorted worldview. Usually he did not go out on Sundays and got ahead on work for the director Miles Calman, who was so far impressed with his work. But, that Sunday, he’d received an invitation from Miles himself, inviting him to tea at his Beverly Hills house. 

Joel was excited about this invitation because people of high influence will likely be in attendance and he promised himself he wouldn’t drink, as Miles disliked writers who drank too much. The house was teeming with people when he entered and he was approached by Stella Calman who made fun of his youthful appearance and placed a cocktail glass in his hand. He had first met the woman when he was struggling to find a job in New York, and she introduced him to other guests as though he were very important. Having seen that Miles was across the room, he’d taken a sip of his drink 

His interaction with Stella gave him confidence to approach Miles’ mother and then a high-profile writer named Nat Keogh. After a famous radio singer performs, a drunk Joel got the idea to put on his own burlesque performance to impress Stella, but the crowd was not amused and he leaves feeling like he made a fool of himself. The next morning, he worried that Miles thought he was a drunkard and wrote him an apology letter. 

At lunch, Nat consoled him and the next day he received a letter from Stella inviting him to her sister’s party next Sunday. That next Sunday, he slept in until eleven and as he introduced himself to the sister, Stella and Miles rode up on horses. They had been fighting earlier, and Miles looked sickly. The director shared with Joel that he had been at the psychoanalyst’s for claustrophobia, along with other issues. A girl sat on the arm of Miles’ chair and Joel went to console Stella in her room where she told him about how he’d cheated on her for two years with her best friend, Eva Goebel. She said the psychoanalyst had diagnosed Miles with “mother syndrome” and that when he’d married his first wife, he gave her the mother role and turned his sexual desire to Stella and now that he’s married Stella, he viewed her as his mother and the new girl as an object of sexual desire. 

Miles suggested Joel come back with the two of them to their mansion while Stella explained the situation. Stella recalled how Miles used to get jealous when she went to events with other men and Miles admitted he had been jealous of Joel earlier that afternoon when she’d sat on the edge of his chair. The conversation quickly turned to films and suddenly Joel had been overcome with love for Stella and promptly left. On Monday, he called Miles at his house but Stella picked up the phone. She invited him to a dinner the next Saturday as her plus one while Miles was out of town. When he found Miles later, the director told Joel that he’d canceled his weekend plans to stay home and be with Stella so that she wouldn’t take Joel to the party. Joel assured him he wouldn’t make a move on Stella and even offered to turn down the invitation, but Miles said he doesn’t trust Stella to be alone. Miles told him he still planned to stay, but invited Joel to come along with them to the party anyway. 

At the party, Joel met Stella in a breathtaking ice blue dress, who told him Miles had gone out of town, after all. After the party ended, Stella invited him back to the house with her and shared she worried Miles had gone to spend the weekend with Eva Groebel, instead of the game he’d said he was going to. Back at the Beverly Hills house, Joel told Stella he figured he was just a pawn in her revenge scheme but that he loved her anyway. Stella said that she was attracted to him, but that the only love she had was for Miles. The next day, Stella received a phone call that Miles’ plane had crashed and he was dead. She pleaded with Joel to stay with her and not to call anyone, but he called for a doctor for Stella and then left.