Dimitri Sanin, a young Russian aristocrat is travelling in Germany, where he meets a young woman, Gemma Rosselli, who runs her family's pastry shop in a small provincial town. She is engaged to Kluber, but she breaks off the engagement when she meets Dimitri, and decides to accept his marriage proposal. In order to marry, Dimitri negotiates the sale of some of his land with the wealthy and beautiful Maria Nikolaevna, a woman who toys with men's affections without ever becoming emotionally involved...