In the very old-fashioned town of Ostend suddenly 13 suitcases are delivered to the Grand Hotel, with a note, that O.F. will be here soon and needs 6 rooms. This event, probably the biggest in 300 years, starts a small wave of modernisation, yet everybody is wondering who O.F. is.

Kornej is a young painter of primitivism. An art agent discover the works of Kornej and buy the whole collection. The art critic Moulin is very excited about Kornejs paintings and style. Kornej marries his childhood sweetheart Rita. They have a child that carries a mystic disease. Allt the money Kornej got from selling his collection is put into the care of the sick child. Rita leaves Kornej.

A Dutch envoy falls for the wife of an English diplomat in Turkey.

The film tells the story of Ivan Mazeppa, a Ukrainian page at the Polish court who has an affair with the young wife of a much older count. Outraged when he learns of the incident, the nobleman has Mazeppa tied naked to a wild horse which is then released into the wilderness. The bulk of the poem describes the long hazardous journey during which Mazeppa almost dies twice but ultimately survives and returns to his native Ukraine.