Although she is known as a patron of the arts, a graceful duchess nevertheless refuses her nephew to marry an enterprising actress in this German melodrama starring Kathe Dorsch and silent screen legend Henny Porten. When Philine (Hilde Krahl), the troupe's ingénue, is rejected as proper marital material by the Duchess of Weissenfels (Porten), Karoline Neuber (Dorsch) creates such a furor that she is banished from the country. A performance at the court at St. Petersburg also ends in disaster for the unhappy actress and abandoned by all, Karoline dies a suicide.

Tina Camphausen has three children, Christian, Schwänchen and Musi, who has grown up for 15 years without a father. The family leads a peaceful life together with Paul, the woman's partner whom the children have accepted. Cohabitation is tested when Felix makes his appearance, Tina's childhood friend and Christian's probable biological father.

King Frederick II and his leading advisors hesitate too long in the eyes of some officers, so Major von Schill decides to strike out on his own. He hoped that his brave move would be the catalyst for the great war of liberation. But von Schill's troops were soon defeated by a superior force of Dutch-Danish troops. The king takes a public stand against von Schill's actions and eleven of his officers are shot by summary execution on Napoleon's orders. However, one of them, Lieutenant Heinrich von Wedell, escapes death and is sentenced to forced labor for life. When Wedell's brother Karl, who opposed von Schill's unauthorized actions, learns of Heinrich's fate, he decides to help him in a risky way...