Vera Brechling

A married couple has financial troubles.

The aristocratic Krag refuses to let his daughter marry the bourgeois Carl Vedel, even though the whole family begs him to permit the match. Fortunately, several opportunities for persuading the stubborn patriarch suddenly appear. For example, it turns out that he regularly visits the manicurist Stella in town, and he will have to account for that.

Having grown up in poverty, the ambitious Nana is determined to break out of it. She becomes part of the Paris theatre scene and gets involved with several of the men who court her. However, Nana’s impoverished past catches up with her, and the story comes to a tragic end.

Laurent, a painter, observes the performance of the dancer Marguerite and immediately feels drawn to her beauty and being. He invites her to his studio and the two fall in love. Unfortunately, Marguerite is already married to Stelio, who soon finds out about the affair. Stelio seeks out the hypnotist Pizarro for revenge, and the story takes a deadly turn.

A Savoyard peasant family is banished from their home because they have not paid their taxes on time. When the count sees the family’s beautiful daughter Annette, he immediately suggests that they can stay if Annette comes to the estate as a housemaid. Plainly seeing the count’s disgraceful plans for what they are, the father, Antonio, resolutely rejects the offer. To raise money, Annette, her brother and a friend travel instead to Paris where Annette meets and falls in love.