The novel was based on Dundy's own experiences living in Paris and follows the misadventures of Sally Jay Gorce, a 21-year-old American graduate having love affairs and trying to break into the film industry in France.
[2] In October 1993, seven years after Private Eye had pointed out the similarities, Jilly Cooper admitted that sections of her first two novels, Emily and Bella, were plagiarised from The Dud Avocado, but said that it was not deliberate.
[3] After three months in Paris, Sally Jay Gorce, a 21-year-old college graduate, runs into Larry Keevil, an actor she performed summer stock with in America.
Sally Jay then breaks up with Teddy Visconti, the charming middle-aged Italian married man with a mistress she has been having an affair with since her arrival in Paris.
Larry briefly disappears from Sally Jay's life and she does some minor modelling work for Jim Breit, an American artist nearer her own age with whom she eventually has a relationship.
After shooting wraps the friends spend a final night out on the town where they run into Teddy, the Contessa, and Larry's ex-girlfriend Lila.