On the death of her mother, the vivacious Clio Dulaine (Ingrid Bergman) returns from Paris, France to her childhood home in New Orleans, Louisiana to seek revenge for the humiliation her mother suffered there from her father's wife's family. She also plans to marry a rich man to attain the status and respectability her mother never had, but falls for Texas gambler Colonel Clint Maroon (Gary Cooper) instead. When he leaves New Orleans for the horse racing season at Saratoga Springs, she follows him there to seek her fortune - or someone else's.