The Bitch 1979

Fontaine Khaled, Joan Collins, is a divorcee who still flits through a glamorous jet-set lifestyle, but the financial cushion of her past as a billionaire’s wife has vanished and her once-thriving London nightclub, “The Hobo,” is losing steam to a flashier new rival. Despite a hefty divorce settlement, the security she craves feels increasingly precarious as patrons drift away and her business—still trying to sparkle—struggles to stay afloat.

On a trip back to London from New York, she meets Nico Cantafora, Antonio Cantafora, a dashing Italian gambler who pretends to be a wealthy businessman. In truth, he’s a conman who owes money to the mafia, and he uses Fontaine to smuggle a stolen diamond ring through airport security, planning to sell it in London to clear his debts. The scheme spins into a tangled web as Nico tracks Fontaine down to retrieve the ring she unwittingly carried, and they share a night together. When she discovers he planted the ring in her coat, she throws him out in anger. Later, Nico learns the ring is a fake and tries to smooth things over by giving it back to Fontaine as a playful gift, and she forgives him.

Meanwhile, Fontaine’s financial woes continue to mount. Her trusted adviser Arnold Rinstead, Kenneth Haigh, warns that the money is running out, pushing Fontaine to try and restore her nightclub’s former glory. She also learns of Nico’s mob ties after he is beaten by local gangsters who want what he owes them.

The couple is invited to the country estate of Fontaine’s closest friends, Leonard and Vanessa Grant. Leonard Grant and Vanessa Grant own a celebrated racehorse named Plato, the Derby’s favorite, which is at the center of a dangerous game. With mafia debts hanging over him, Nico is ordered by the local crime boss Thrush Feathers, Ian Hendry, to ensure Plato loses. Nico goes so far as to coerce the jockey to throw the race. Fontaine, overhearing Nico’s plan, confronts Thrush Feathers to cut herself a share of the potential payoff, hoping to salvage her finances and keep the club alive.

On race day, fate tilts the odds. The jockey falls, and Plato loses as planned. Fontaine pretends to Nico that she has gambled her entire fortune on Plato to win and is now ruined, while Nico boasts that he has backed the winning horse and feels the mafia will finally back off. But the mafia have different ideas for Nico, and after he hands Fontaine his winning tickets to cash in, Thrush Feathers’ henchmen haul him away. Fontaine, seizing the moment, gathers a double payout—her cut from Feathers and Nico’s winning tickets—pulling herself back from the brink of ruin with the club revived and her finances on a clearer path.

Yet the denouement is bittersweet. Back at The Hobo, Fontaine discovers Thrush Feathers has infiltrated the club’s ownership, announcing himself as the new owner. The life she fought to restore teeters on a new edge, leaving Fontaine to navigate a world where loyalty, debt, and ambition collide in the glittering shadows of high society.