Claudius Ruprecht was raised an orphan without any knowledge of his family. When he joins Wilna University, Claudius goes on a traveling tour through Germany, according to custom of the college. Upon his arrival in Munich, Claudius gets tangled in a fight and challenged to a duel by major von Sendlingen, an officer in cavalry regiment. After he wounds the major, Claudius seeks shelter with a girl he saved, and her father tries to help him escape. But major von Sendlingen is not the only one who is after Claudius. An old beggar woman recognizes him to be the son of a celebrated French sculptor, Clemencau, who married her daughter and killed her. Desperate for revenge, she conspires with the major and they make a plot against the young man.