Margelatu discovers and annihilates a plot by the Austrians by infiltrating the Fratia organization with a fake envoy of the French revolutionary Alphonse de Lamartine
A Roman noble, Cethegus, tries to start a war, setting the Ostrogoths and their Queen, Amalasuntha, against the Byzantine Emperor Justinian; Cethegus wants to swoop in after they have destroyed each other and create a new Roman Empire from their combined kingdoms; however, he does not factor into his plans the vagaries of love and the personal integrity of the people in both kingdoms.
In a textile factory, the cultural supervisor falls in love with a typist. To impress her, he pretends to be friends with a famous composer whose operetta was to be performed by the company's artistic brigade. However, the typist, an uneducated woman, sees him only as a means to become the protected one of an influential person.
