Stormy love between young writer of a noble, decaying family and a lazy amoral starlet. Between arguments and reconciliations, jealousies and acts of infidelity, the relation between Marcello and the femme fatale-ish heroine, Anna (played by luscious French starlet Mylene Demongeot), seems not to have future. Marcello says he wants to remain free but - deep inside - wants a traditional fiancée and wife while Anna, as an aspiring actress, is of a free and rebellious nature, not very given to sentimental attachments.