Nora and Peter constantly fight and wish to divorce. Nora's uncle Eberhard, however, believes the two belong together and comes up with a plan to bring the two back together again: as a lawyer, who is processing the divorce, he explains to them that the paperwork for the divorce is completed, but will only go into effect once they undertake a reconciliation attempt. For the first reconciliation meeting, Eberhard enlists the help of his friend Christa and together, they turn Nora into such a hot tamale, that Peter burns with jealousy that any other man might look at her. At the second meeting of the two, which takes place a year later (how long do divorces in Nazi Germany take?!?!), Nora plays the girl abandoned by everyone. In the interim, she's given birth to Peter's son -- which apparently does not count as a reconciliation -- and Peter has become a successful composer. When Nora again disappears after this meeting, Peter does all he can to win her back.

Sir Robert Chiltern is a successful Government minister, well-off and with a loving wife. All this is threatened when Mrs Cheveley appears in London with damning evidence of a past misdeed. Sir Robert turns for help to his friend Lord Goring, an apparently idle philanderer and the despair of his father. Goring knows the lady of old, and, for him, takes the whole thing pretty seriously.

The stories' setup: a bunch of passive weaklings being dominated by two strong and ambitious women who fight for the same man.