Béatrice Belmont is attractive - and a successful business woman who has built up her career on her own. A lot of things would have been simpler if she had taken advantage of the good name of her ex-husband, the younger heir of the Geneva-based Belmont Bank. She now directs an investment fund specializing in art. Regularly visiting auctions, there she meets Robert, a lawyer, who enchants her with his charm. Even after being divorced from her husband Michael Béatrice her former father-in-law Paul Belmont has always remained her friend. When his older son and designated successor Albert is killed in a sports accident, the line of succession in the family is bitterly contested. His two daughters have hopes for their husbands in this connection. Carlo, husband of the older daughter Anita, is the manager of the department for the bank's private customers, while Léon, husband of the family's baby Lucy, manages a subsidiary of the bank.