Young shop clerk Jirō is eager to climb the social ladder, an aim for which he uses and manipulates everyone around him. He talks diner waitress Harumi into moving into his flat and introduces her to bar madam Soko, who pays him for his mediation. While Harumi is reluctant to Jirō's advances, she eventually agrees to Soko's plan to have refinery owner Hondo act as her patron and pay for an apartment for her. Jirō has affairs both with Soko and Masae, the widowed daughter-in-law of foundry owner Oka, whom he intends to marry for her money. When Hondo buys Oka out of his heavily indebted company, Masae is left without any assets, and Jirō dumps her. After Harumi dies in a car accident with another lover, Jirō returns to Soko, who bluntly tells him that she will keep him simply as her gigolo and pet, to which he starts laughing hysterically.