Wealthy Mrs. Khromova has a natural daughter, Musya, and an adopted daughter, Nata. The merchant Zhurov is in love with Nata, and hopes to marry her, but she is non-committal.
The lives of two young men-- A virtuous artist who's renounced a background of riches and a debonair swindler proclaimed by many the King of Paris-- intersect when the artist's mother becomes the target of the kingly charlatan.
An engineer falls for an heiress who has just lost her fiancé — and is about to lose her wealth too. Is true love possible for this unlikely pair?