In Paris in 1928 American Djuna Barnes writes a farcical novel about the lovers, friends and publishing elite that make up "lesbian Don Juan" Natalie Clifford Barney's sordid salon. Dolly Wilde, Elizabeth Gramont, Romaine Brooks, Mimi Franchetti, Colette, Gertrude Stein, Liane de Pougy, Radclyffe Hall, Mina Loy, Janet Flanner and many more of the finest minds of her time enter her colorful book. Concocted to cheer up Barnes' ailing girlfriend, Thelma Wood, who is sick in the hospital, the story ultimately outlives the romance.