Hotshot Hollywood screenwriter Richard Benson (William Holden) is in trouble. He sold a script idea to decadent producer Alexander Meyerheim (Noel Coward), but has wasted all the time he had to finish the screenplay by traipsing around Paris. With just a couple of days left before the deadline, Benson gets a new assistant named Gabrielle Simpson (Audrey Hepburn), who helps him put together a love story by acting out all the possible scenarios. But life eventually beginning to imitate art.