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The Right Temptation (2000) movie poster

Plot Summary

The Right Temptation (2000) Plot Summary Explained

Release, runtime and language
2000 · 95 mins · English
Directed by
Lyndon Chubbuck
Starring
Rebecca De Mornay, Neil Flynn, Dana Delany, Kiefer Sutherland, Joanna Cassidy, Patrick O'Neal

She’s A Private Investigator Who’s Found The Wrong Man But… A detective falls for the man she’s supposed to be investigating; dire complications follow.

On this page (5)
  1. 1 What happens: full plot
  2. 2 Plot questions answered
  3. 3 Movie threads
  4. 4 Movies like The Right Temptation
  5. 5 Every angle

Full plot summary · contains spoilers

What Happens in The Right Temptation: Full Plot Summary

The whole story of The Right Temptation (2000) explained, from the opening scene to the final frame: every key event, every twist and what it all adds up to. Read it as a quick recap before the sequel, to check a scene you missed, or to finally understand what really happened.

Derian McCall, a former police officer who hands in her badge and, with a colleague, opens a detective agency, finds her quiet new life disrupted when Anthea Farrow-Smith, the wife of a wealthy investor, asks her to test her husband’s fidelity. Anthea suggests using Derian as bait to uncover whether the husband is unfaithful, setting the stage for a tense and dangerous arrangement.

Derian bumps into Michael Farrow-Smith at a racket-ball club, where she also nabs his Rolex watch and later returns it at his office. He invites her for a drink, and she shares that she used to be a vice cop who worked undercover but now handles insurance claims. He explains that he is married and wants to avoid giving the wrong impression, insisting he isn’t a cheater.

Anthea claims she wants Michael’s affairs investigated because she fears for her life, alleging that his business dealings involve high-risk transactions and that he can be violent at times. She paints a picture of danger, suggesting that staying any longer could be deadly.

One night, Derian wakes to find someone rummaging through her papers. The intruder overpowers her, but her pet pig intervenes, and she stabs the intruder, who manages to escape before the police arrive to take her statement. The sense that someone is watching her moves deeper into the mystery.

Michael and Derian share another drink, and he confesses that he can’t stop thinking about her. He proposes hiring Derian as a detective to tail Anthea, claiming he’s in an empty marriage and that Anthea might be seeing someone else. The idea of a paid pursuit pulls Derian further into a web of secrets.

To follow Anthea, Derian enlists a photographer named Travis, who captures photographs of Anthea meeting with a mysterious man in his apartment. When Derian confronts Anthea about the photos, their relationship ends in separation, but the clues keep piling up.

Travis phones Derian with new information about the man in the photos, but is killed before he can reveal more. Anthea, meanwhile, calls Derian claiming that Michael may kill her, insisting she once went up to his office carrying a gun and fired at the ceiling while the target was apparently upstairs. Derian heads upstairs with the impression that something lethal is unfolding, only to find a dead body on the bed and herself arrested as the prime suspect in Michael’s murder. As she is led away in handcuffs, Anthea smiles evilly from a distance, a chilling moment that hints at deeper plots.

Falco visits Derian in jail and recalls that Travis had called her with new information. Based on a photo, Derian infers that the man in the image bore a shoulder cut and was likely the intruder who attacked her home. Her deduction hints that Michael may have faked his own death to run away with Anthea, turning the case on its head.

Anthea is arrested as a material witness to a homicide while boarding a flight under the alias Alice Jones, signaling that she may have been part of a larger conspiracy. Meanwhile, Michael returns to his office, opens a safe, and, in a moment of unsettling honesty, tells Derian he loves her and that no one intended for anyone to get hurt. When he turns with a gun, Derian shoots him, and he falls from the office to land atop a car, sealing a volatile chain of betrayals and shifting loyalties to an explosive conclusion.

Last updated: October 09, 2025 at 16:38

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Plot questions answered

The Right Temptation Plot Explained: Your Questions Answered

The questions people ask most about The Right Temptation (2000): what happens in the confusing scenes, why the characters do what they do, the twists, hidden details and what the ending means. Each answer contains spoilers.

Q1

Why did Anthea hire Derian to investigate her husband?

Anthea's true motive was not simply to catch Michael cheating. She claimed to fear for her life, alleging Michael was involved in dangerous business dealings and could be violent. However, it becomes clear later that Anthea and Michael were actually working together in a conspiracy. Anthea used the investigation as a setup to draw Derian into their scheme, making her an unwitting participant in their criminal plot.

Foreshadowing: Anthea's claim that she feared for her life and her insistence on using Derian as 'bait' hint at her true manipulative intent from the beginning.

  • anthea farrow-smith
  • michael farrow-smith
  • conspiracy
  • infidelity investigation
  • setup
Q2

Why was Derian's apartment broken into?

The intruder was searching for evidence related to the investigation. Derian deduces later that the man who broke into her apartment was the same man seen in the photos with Anthea - the mysterious figure in the apartment building. This suggests the break-in was an attempt to destroy evidence or gather information about what Derian had discovered about Anthea's activities.

Foreshadowing: Earlier in the film, Derian notices someone watching her, establishing that she was being surveilled.

  • intruder
  • home invasion
  • evidence
  • surveillance
  • photos
Q3

Why did Michael want Derian to follow Anthea?

Michael claimed he was in an empty marriage and suspected Anthea of having an affair. He hired Derian to gather evidence of Anthea's infidelity. However, this was likely part of the broader conspiracy - Michael and Anthea were working together to manipulate Derian into a position where she could be framed for murder. Michael's offer to hire Derian was designed to pull her deeper into their scheme.

Foreshadowing: Michael's insistence that he isn't a cheater, combined with his quick interest in hiring Derian, suggests his motivations weren't purely about catching a cheating wife.

  • michael farrow-smith
  • derian mccall
  • surveillance
  • empty marriage
  • conspiracy
Q4

What was the man in the photos that Travis captured?

Travis photographed Anthea meeting with a mysterious man in an apartment building. This man was later identified as the same person who broke into Derian's apartment - he had a distinctive shoulder cut that Derian noticed in the photo. He appears to have been working with Anthea and Michael as part of their conspiracy, possibly serving as a partner or enforcer.

Foreshadowing: Travis's photos show Anthea meeting this man repeatedly, suggesting an ongoing secret relationship or criminal partnership.

  • travis
  • anthea
  • photos
  • mysterious man
  • shoulder cut
  • apartment
Q5

Who was actually killed in Michael's office?

When Derian arrived at Michael's office after Anthea's warning, she found a dead body on the bed and was arrested for the murder. The body was presented as Michael's, but it was later revealed that Michael faked his own death. The actual victim remains unclear from the summary - it appears Michael arranged for someone else's body to be found in his office to stage his death and frame Derian.

Foreshadowing: Anthea's phone call warning that Michael might kill her was a setup to direct Derian to the scene at the exact moment the staged murder would be discovered.

  • fake death
  • body
  • frame
  • murder
  • michael farrow-smith
  • arrest
Q6

How did Michael fake his death?

Michael staged his own death by placing a body in his office bed and arranging for Derian to discover it. Anthea tipped off Derian to arrive at the scene, ensuring she would be found with the body and arrested as the prime suspect. The conspiracy involved multiple people - Anthea, Michael, and possibly the mysterious man - working together to eliminate Derian while allowing Michael to escape.

Foreshadowing: The rapid sequence of Anthea's warning, Derian's arrival, and the body's discovery was too perfectly timed to be coincidental.

  • michael farrow-smith
  • fake death
  • conspiracy
  • frame
  • escape
Q7

Why was Derian arrested for murder?

Derian was arrested because she was found at the scene of a staged murder with a dead body in Michael's office. Anthea had deliberately called Derian to the office, warning that Michael might kill her, which led Derian to arrive with her gun drawn. The body was positioned to make it appear that Derian had murdered the man in the bed, and Anthea's subsequent distant smile suggested she had orchestrated the entire frame-up.

Foreshadowing: Anthea's sinister smile as Derian is led away in handcuffs reveals her true role in the conspiracy.

  • arrest
  • frame-up
  • evidence
  • anthea
  • derian mccall
  • false accusation
Q8

Why did Anthea set up Derian?

Anthea and Michael were working together in a conspiracy that appears to have involved some kind of criminal activity, possibly related to Michael's business dealings. They needed someone to take the fall for whatever scheme they were running, and Derian - as the investigator looking into their lives - became the perfect patsy. By framing Derian for murder, they could eliminate her as a threat and escape with their plans intact.

Foreshadowing: Anthea's initial claim that she feared for her life was designed to gain Derian's sympathy and trust.

  • anthea
  • conspiracy
  • frame
  • betrayal
  • setup
  • michael farrow-smith
Q9

What happened to Travis?

Travis, the photographer Derian hired to shadow Anthea, was killed before he could reveal crucial information about the man in the photos. He called Derian with a lead about the mysterious man Anthea had been meeting, but was murdered before he could share the details. His death eliminated a key witness who could have exposed the conspiracy earlier.

Foreshadowing: Travis's photographic evidence of Anthea meeting the mysterious man posed a threat to the conspiracy, making him a target.

  • travis
  • murder
  • witness
  • photos
  • information
  • killed
Q10

Why did Derian shoot Michael at the end?

In the final confrontation, Michael returned to his office and opened a safe where Derian was hiding. He professed his love for her and claimed no one was supposed to get hurt. However, when Michael turned toward her with a gun, Derian shot him in self-defense. He fell from the office window onto a car below, ending the deadly chain of betrayals. This conclusion represents the culmination of the conspiracy collapsing, with Derian surviving but having to kill the man she had been investigating.

Foreshadowing: Throughout the film, the escalating danger and betrayals built toward this violent confrontation between Derian and Michael.

  • derian mccall
  • michael farrow-smith
  • shooting
  • self-defense
  • final confrontation
  • death

Movie threads

More Movies Like The Right Temptation, by Mood & Story

Curated lists built around what makes The Right Temptation tick: the same mood, the same kind of story or the same emotional payoff. Each list explains why these movies belong together.

Erotic Thrillers with Dangerous Affairs like The Right Temptation

When a professional investigation becomes a perilous romantic obsession. If you liked the dangerous liaison and high-tension investigation in The Right Temptation, this collection features movies with similar themes of seduction, betrayal, and perilous romantic entanglements. Discover more suspenseful thrillers where professional boundaries blur with deadly consequences.

  • erotic
  • suspenseful
  • dangerous
  • deceptive
  • anxious
  • romantic
  • Tone: tense, erotic, anxious
  • Pacing: fast, twist-driven
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The core narrative involves a character in a position of professional scrutiny—such as a detective, journalist, or bodyguard—who becomes dangerously and romantically involved with their subject. The plot is driven by the conflict between their duty and their desire, as they uncover layers of deception that put their own life at risk, often culminating in a violent confrontation.

Why they belong together: These films are grouped by their potent mix of eroticism and suspense, a specific subgenre vibe where the thrill of the chase is deeply personal. They share a tense, anxious mood, fast pacing driven by twists and reveals, and a focus on the psychological unraveling of a protagonist caught in a web of their own making.

Investigation Thrillers with High Stakes like The Right Temptation

A lone investigator uncovers a murderous plot far bigger than they imagined. For viewers who enjoyed the investigative spiral and conspiracy in The Right Temptation, this thread gathers movies featuring private eyes and amateur detectives in over their heads. Find similar fast-paced mysteries involving murder, faked deaths, and dangerous criminals.

  • suspenseful
  • dangerous
  • conspiracy
  • investigation
  • murder
  • tense
  • Tone: tense, suspenseful, dangerous
  • Pacing: fast, event-driven
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative follows a classic investigation structure that quickly escalates in scope and danger. The protagonist's pursuit of a single truth leads them to uncover a complex conspiracy, often involving powerful people. The story is marked by key events like witness murders, attempts on the investigator's life, and a final, violent confrontation to bring the conspiracy down.

Why they belong together: This thread groups movies based on a specific plot pattern and tense mood: the solitary investigator against a powerful, hidden enemy. They share a fast pace, a high level of suspense and violence, and a focus on the procedural unraveling of a mystery that becomes deeply personal for the hero.

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Movies Like The Right Temptation

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Every angle

The Right Temptation (2000) Explained: Plot, Timeline & Characters

Everything about The Right Temptation in one place: what happens in the plot summary, the timeline in chronological order, the characters and meaning and a spoiler-free summary. What's After the Movie adds the cast, box office and post-credit scenes.

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