In a post-World War II London auction house, an elderly woman is trying to acquire an attractive fan she claims was once hers. A flashback to the Victorian era reveals she is the scandalous Mrs. Erlynne, who in middle age becomes associated with Lord Arthur Windermere, whose young and beautiful but socially conservative wife Margaret tends to judge others harshly. Lord Windermere financially supports Mrs. Erlynne, allowing her to live in the elegant manner to which she is accustomed, and the couple become the favourite subject of local gossips.
When Margaret hears the stories, she mistakenly believes the two are involved in a clandestine affair and subsequently succumbs to the charms of Lord Robert Darlington, who has made no secret of his ongoing romantic interest in her. However, she leaves her fan - the one Robert offered her for her birthday - in Robert's house. In order to ensure the younger woman does not make the same mistakes she has in the past, Mrs. Erlynne reveals a shocking secret: she is Lady Windermere's mother, whom Margaret believed had died after the woman abandoned her husband and daughter for another man. In order to protect Margaret's reputation, Mrs. Erlynne sacrifices her own happiness by placing herself in a compromising position that jeopardizes her pending marriage to Augustus Lorton.
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