The soap-operatic story follows the fortunes of three ambitious youngish people: Billy, secretary and then wife to an older zillionaire, whose death frees Billy to start up a Beverly Hills boutique ("Scruples") and to pursue the pretentious and manly but commercially woebegone film director Vito Orsini. Meanwhile, Valentine, a French would-be fashion designer, and Spider, a parking lot attendant/photographer/stud, struggle up the ladder, become buddies and put off a romance that seems inevitable despite their difference in height. After Valentine and Spider become Billy's employees, they team up to navigate a number of speed bumps on the road to happiness.
