Since completing a portrait of Genuine, a high priestess, Percy becomes irritable and withdrawn. He loses interest in painting and refuses to see his friends, preferring to spend his time alone with the portrait in his study. After turning down a wealthy patron's offer to buy the picture, Percy falls asleep while reading stories of Genuine's life. Genuine comes to life from the painting and escapes.
The operetta composer Robert Ottmar is fascinated when he discovers a picture of a young lady in a newspaper. The beauty's mere countenance inspires him to write a new operetta, which is very successful. Ottmar learns that his beloved is called Gloria and is the daughter of a general manager from Nice. In order to find out whether Gloria corresponds to his ideal image in reality, he hires himself out as a valet in her father's villa - incognito, of course.
A married society woman strikes up a romance with a young musician. She introduces the man to high society. The society woman eventually decides to break off the relationship and the musician attempts to blackmail her.
