A new dress plays a key role in the lives of four women who are not acquainted with each other. A daring strapless design, "Nude at Midnight," is unveiled in Paris to the delight of socialite Gogo Montaine, who wants to dazzle the Maharajah of Kim-Kepore, her escort that night. She charges its $900 cost to a former lover, Louis-Jean, who turns up later and refuses to pay. The Raj begins paying more attention to the gambling tables, so Gogo uses her dress and charms to get back into Louis-Jean's good graces.
A buyer from New York City has an underling copy the Paris dress's design and quickly manufactures a cheaper version of it. Betty Barnes, a secretary, spends $90 on one to impress her boss, attorney Edgar Blevins, hoping to woo him away from Cora, his wife. Cora eavesdrops on her at the dress shop. While her husband is admiring Betty in it, Cora turns up in exactly the same dress, diverting her husband's wandering eyes.
Marion Parmalee wants a promotion for her husband, whose boss P.J. Sullivan is retiring to Florida with his wife. At the retirement party, wearing a "Nude at Midnight" dress she bought for $59, Marion flirts with P.J., a bed manufacturer. When they get caught atop a bed together, P. J.'s wife instantly names another man at the party as her husband's successor.
In far-off Los Angeles, a 21st-birthday party and a desire for boyfriend Charlie to propose marriage to her motivate Marta Jensen into buying an eye-catching dress, "Nude at Midnight," a copy of which she finds on sale for $19. They have difficult getting a table at Michael Romanoff's popular restaurant, frustrating Charlie until he gets an eyeful of Marta in her gown. At a nearby table, also appreciating her beauty in this dress, sits the Maharajah of Kim-Kepore.
^Flynn, Charles; McCarthy, Todd (1975). "Albert Zugmsith". In Flynn, Charles; McCarthy, Todd (eds.). Kings of the Bs : working within the Hollywood system : an anthology of film history and criticism. E. P. Dutton. p. 414.
