As a successful but shallow hairdresser, George (Warren Beatty) pursues women ceaselessly and without feeling. Among his current affairs are Jill (Goldie Hawn), a woman who really loves him, and his customer, Felicia Karpf (Lee Grant). Felicia encourages George to ask her husband Lester (Jack Warden) to invest in the shop he wants to open. Under the impression that George is gay, Lester decides he will make a safe escort for his mistress Jackie (Julie Christie) at a big party. However, because Jackie happens to be one of his former girlfriends, George's intricate web of deception collapses when Jill and Lester discover them making love at the party. As Jill ends their affair and Lester hires men to beat him up, sobered by news of a friend's tragedy, George asks Jackie to marry him. But he's too late, for she has already promised to marry Lester and, as they drive off, George is left feeling very much alone.