Stephen Fry was inspired by Evelyn Waugh´s Vile Bodies for his debut as a director. This famous British author´s second novel was first published in 1930. Fry however has set the action in the late 1930s, in order to emphasise the parallel between the carefree heroes - members of London´s "upper crust" - and the period leading inevitably to the tragedy of World War II. The hero of the story is Adam Symes, a young writer snugly tucked into this snobbish society, who unexpectedly finds himself without means. Marriage to the wealthy but wayward Nina seems the best solution. With his budget and social status dependent on his reckless relationship to money, Adam tries to improve things through gambling - and writing. Important roles in the story are played by Nina´s eccentric father, the Canadian newspaper magnate Monomark and the conspiratorial Father Rothschild. These are among the "leaders" of a world which doesn´t deserve too charitable a view, a society chasing after experience, zigzagging between sexual scandals, and flirting with drugs.