Set to music, a symphony conductor envisions multiple possible scenarios for dealing with his wife's infidelity.

World-renowned conductor Sir Alfred de Carter returns to New York from a visit to his native England and is greeted at the airport by his beautiful, much-younger wife Daphne, with whom he is deeply in love. Upon returning to his luxurious hotel, Alfred is confronted by his boring, wealthy brother-in-law, August Henschler, who misunderstood Alfred's casual request that he watch over Daphne during his absence. Mortified to learn that August hired a private detective named Sweeney to trail Daphne, Alfred tears up Sweeney's report, throws it out into the hallway and ejects August from his study. After rehearsing the orchestra for an upcoming performance, Alfred is accosted by the hotel's house detective, who returns the torn-up report. In his attempt to burn the document, which he still has not read, Alfred sets his dressing room on fire, and the subsequent fracas makes him late for lunch with Daphne. At the restaurant, Alfred runs into August and his wife, Daphne's sister Barbara, and is disturbed by their assertion that Daphne and Anthony Windborn, Alfred's secretary, looked "too cute" sitting together to be disturbed. Alfred joins the innocent couple, but, now wondering if Sweeney has a duplicate of his report, leaves for the detective's office. Alfred is embarrassed that Sweeney, who is a music fan, recognizes him, but is truly upset upon finally reading the report and learning that, late one night, while wearing a negligee, Daphne went to another room in the hotel and stayed there for thirty-eight minutes. Thunderstruck, Alfred returns to the hotel and discovers that the hotel room listed in the report is occupied by Tony. Daphne is bewildered and hurt by Alfred's sudden coldness and sarcasm, and storms off to the concert hall after they quarrel. During the performance, Alfred's mind wanders, and he vividly imagines slashing Daphne to death with a straight razor, then framing Tony for the crime. Alfred laughs madly as his fantasy ends and he finishes conducting the number. When the orchestra begins another song, Alfred's imagination begins working again, and he envisions himself nobly telling Daphne that she belongs with Tony, who is closer to her own age, and giving her a substantial check with which to begin a new life. Alfred's tears as he ends his reverie are attributed by the audience to his powerful, sympathetic conducting. When the third song begins, Alfred imagines daring Tony to participate in a game of Russian roulette, while an anxious Daphne looks on. Tony cannot pull the trigger, however, and Alfred is shot as he demonstrates how to play the game with courage. Alfred almost collapses from his excessive emotions as he finishes conducting, and the audience shows its appreciation with a standing ovation. Rushing home, Alfred attempts to stage the murder that he had imagined during the first number, but his bumbling attempts make a mess of the apartment. Daphne then returns home and questions her husband about his outburst of temperament, but devotedly bandages his thumb when he cuts it while testing the sharpness of his straight razor. Finally realizing that Daphne does indeed love him, Alfred asks her why she went to Tony's room, and she reluctantly reveals her fear that Barbara was having an affair with Tony. Daphne had gone to Tony's room to see if he and Barbara were there, but they were not. When Daphne saw that she had been followed, she hid in the empty room. Alfred realizes that Sweeney was the mysterious man following Daphne, and that the situation was entirely innocent. Alfred then begs Daphne to forgive him for his irrational behavior, and she readily accepts his temperment as the excusable sufferings of a great man who has many responsibilities. Tenderly taking Daphne into his arms, Alfred tells her, "a thousand poets dreamed for a thousand years, then you were born, my love."