An Arab prince born and raised in the desert and a beautiful Frenchwoman from Paris fall in love and marry, but the tremendous differences in their backgrounds and the cultural differences between their two different societies put strains on their marriage that may well prove irreparable.
The story is about Conrad Veidt as military attache in Turkey where he learns to know an English consul (Heinrich George) and his attractive wife who is treated badly. They begin an affair and soon the husband proves to be an obstacle that has to be disposed of.
Espionage, war and romance in the Far East in 1904: Russian naval officer Boris Ranewsky marries Youki, the sister of a fanatical Japanese officer, but war is imminent.