Jasmine French, a wealthy New York socialite, experiences the ultimate fall from grace when her husband, Hal, a charming but dishonest businessman, is arrested for fraudulent financial dealings, destroying their opulent lifestyle. The scandal leads to the couple's divorce and Hal's suicide, leaving Jasmine penniless and emotionally unstable. In an attempt to escape her tarnished past and start anew, Jasmine relocates to San Francisco to move in with her estranged, working-class sister, Ginger. The sisters share a complex relationship, peppered with resentment and jealousy, especially as Jasmine disapproves of Ginger's choices in men and lifestyle, which starkly contrast her own former high-society existence.

In San Francisco, Jasmine struggles to cope with her drastically changed circumstances. Haunted by her past and the ghosts of her previous life of luxury, she finds it challenging to adjust to the modest apartment and the working-class environment. Determined to reclaim her status, Jasmine enrolls in a computer class to study interior design, hoping to achieve an independent and successful career. Her plans are complicated by the cocktail of prescription pills and alcohol she consumes to stave off panic attacks and depression. As she attempts to navigate her new reality, Jasmine crosses paths with a diplomat, Dwight, who is potentially her ticket back to the sophisticated world she misses so dearly. A web of lies begins to form as Jasmine attempts to reinvent herself, with the lingering question of whether she can truly leave her past behind and embrace the possibility of a different future.