Intrigue and love affairs at the court of the Saxon King Augustus the Strong, who can bend a horseshoe with his bare hands and is fighting with the Swedish King Charles XII for control of Poland. When Charles marches against Russia with his troops and suffers defeat, the way is clear for Augustus, who gains the crown of Poland. But he is already old and ill. When he dies in Warsaw, his heart is brought to Dresden by Saxon horsemen.

Based on the novel by Helena Mniszek entitled "The Leper". The film has not survived to this day.

In the beginning of the 20th century, Polish students are fully aware that the education system is not one in which the truth is taught, but rather one their government wants them to learn. A student contradicts his professor's stance that Suworow was one of Poland's greatest leaders. The argument between the two eventually leads to a wide strike.

The young musician and composer Josef lives with Beethoven's music copyist in Grinzing. In the evenings, he plays for dances in the Prater, often his own melodies, although he doesn't make much effort to spread them, as they're almost all waltzes, a dance not well-regarded in high society because they're too sweaty. When one evening a lively princess—fresh from the convent—mingles incognito with the Prater crowd and falls in love with the dashing conductor Josef, an entire cultural system of values ​​begins to crumble.