A story of the romance of Maria Baschkirtzeff and Guy de Maupassant beginning with their first meeting leading to other meetings and the development of their ill-fated romance.

The Arch-Duke Herr Sixtus especially cares for Arts and particularly for young ballet students. The same is true of the Arch-Duke A.D.C., Herr Count Paul Paladin who shares with the Arch-Duke a special affection for Frau Elisa Jenkins, a young ballet student. Unexpectedly and thanks to a misunderstanding involving Frau Elisa and the Arch-Duke, the young student will become the new Prima Ballerina of the "Wiener Staatsoper".

Silent horror film directed by Julius Herska and starring Franz Höbling, Nora Gregor and Lucienne Delacroix. It is an adaptation of the 1869 novel The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo.