The heir to his grandfather's considerable fortune, Anthony Patch is led astray from the path to gainful employment by the temptations of the 1920s Jazz Age. His descent into dissolution and profligacy is accelerated by his marriage to the attractive but turbulent Gloria, and the couple soon discover the dangerous flip side of a life of glamour and debauchery.

Containing obvious parallels with F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's own lives, «The Beautiful and Damned» is a tragic examination of the pitfalls of greed and materialism and the transience of youth and beauty.