THE GOLDEN BOWL

Prince Amerigo, impoverished Italian aristocrat, is to marry Maggie, daughter of Adam Verver, American tycoon and art collector. The Prince has a last rendezvous with his equally impecunious lover, Charlotte Stant, when they go in search of a wedding present for Maggie. They find a golden bowl, but reject it as being flawed.

By a strange twist of fate, Charlotte marries Adam Verver so that the lives of the four of them – father, daughter, and the two former lovers – become entwined into one family. Bored by their new lives of luxury, the Prince and Charlotte resume their old relationship. Maggie suspects and then discovers their affair through the fortuitous purchase of the same golden bowl they had left behind.