James Beard

Julie Messinger (Dyan Cannon) has it made. She is a New York housewife whose husband, Richard (Laurence Luckinbill), is an editor for a prominent photography magazine. They have a small circle of friends, including well-meaning, but inept Dr. Timothy Spector (James Coco), photographer Cal Whiting (Ken Howard) and Cal's live-in girlfriend Miranda (Jennifer O'Neill). Julie's mother (Nina Foch) spends her days getting pedicures and manicures, applying make-up and fake eye-lashes and buying expensive clothes, all the while criticizing her daughter for her looks and behavior. When Richard goes into the hospital for a minor mole-removal surgery, Julie gets more than she bargained for. Richard suffers from complications and goes into a coma, supposedly caused by a rare surgical factor, and she gathers friends and family together, culminating in a hilarious "quasi-cocktail-party" scene in the blood donation center of the hospital. While dealing with red tape, hospital bureaucracy and clueless doctors, Julie discovers her husband's "little black book," which contains the names of her friends. She confirms that her husband had been sleeping around and proceeds to make a fool out of him by getting it on with his male friends. When the complications get more ominous, guilt opens the door to her liberation as a woman. A scathingly funny examination of the dirty rich partying while one of their number lies on the brink of death.

While awaiting the outcome of her husband's surgery, Julie Messinger discovers he has been having affairs.