Donna Foster works for publisher John Caine. She agrees to have his niece, Christabel, live with her in San Francisco while Christabel attends business school.
Christabel proves to be a scheming, socially ambitious tramp. She flirts with Donna's fiancé, the wealthy Curtis Carey, at a party for Donna's friend, painter Gabriel Broome. She also attracts the interest of aspiring author Nick Bradley.
While having her portrait done by Broome, a call from Curtis brings her eagerly to a jeweler, only to discover to her disappointment that he merely seeks her advice in buying Donna an engagement gift. After he purchases an expensive one, Christabel plants a seed of doubt in Donna's mind and makes her feel guilty by insinuating that in accepting such a lavish gift, Donna is giving Curtis the appearance of being after his money.
Christabel then turns around and cunningly does the same to Curtis by convincing him to propose a pre-nuptial agreement. Donna is offended and the couple break up, which turns out to have been Christabel's plan all along. With Curtis now available, Christabel rebuffs a marriage proposal from Nick, whose novel is about to be published by Caine.
A romance develops that leads to Christabel's marrying Curtis and becoming a high society lady. However, it turns out that she is still attracted to Nick, which she confesses when she sees him the evening of the ball. Unable to suppress her feelings for Nick, she slips away from a vacation resort for a secret rendezvous. However she is unwilling to commit fully to Nick, hoping that they can carry on their affair in secret until she can secure Curtis’ fortune. Nick is disgusted and tells her to get out.
As a cover for her reunion with Nick, Christabel left a note telling Curtis that she is going to see her aunt Clara. Her lie is exposed by Caine, her uncle, who informs Curtis that the aunt had died while Christabel claimed to be visiting her. Curtis storms out telling Christabel to be gone by the time he returns.
Curtis reunites with Donna after sending Christabel away with nothing more than a few expensive furs.
Film critic Dennis Schwartz gave the film a mixed review, writing, "Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without A Cause/Johnny Guitar) dips down a few levels from his illustrious opus to helm this trashy but stylishly entertaining melodrama. It's passable as a routine Hollywood woman's pic about bitchy social climber Christabel Caine (Joan Fontaine) ... Ray keeps all the viciousness going at full blast, thereby drawing an ugly picture about the bankrupt emotional state of society life."[3]
Film critic Craig Butler in his film review suggests suspending disbelief when watching the film, writing, "Although it's hardly a great movie, Born to Be Bad is a lot of fun – if one is in the mood for a bitchy, campy, over-the-top melodrama."[4]
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