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French naval captain Bernier is in love with Arianna, a woman from Corfu, who has been captured and taken to Ali Pasha’s harem. Ali orders her to forget Bernier. Bernier enters the palace under a pretext and pretends not to know Arianna, but they soon reveal their love. Ali overhears and chains Bernier. Robert and the French battalion break into the harem, free Bernier and Arianna, and return with them to France.
Count Liebenau loves Marie, daughter of armourer Stadinger, but disguises himself as the journeyman blacksmith Konrad so she will love him without regard to his rank. Stadinger mistrusts Konrad and tries to marry Marie to someone else. Liebenau stages a kidnapping and uses further deceptions to win Stadinger’s consent; when his identity is revealed, Stadinger is angered but finally blesses the couple.
Schoolmaster Baculus is dismissed for hunting on the Count’s land, threatening his engagement to Gretchen. At the Count’s birthday gathering, both the Count and Baron Kronthal pursue Gretchen, while the Baroness disguises herself as a student and helps Baculus. A series of mistaken identities is finally resolved; Baculus and Gretchen reunite, and he regains his post. Baculus also discovers that he had shot his own donkey rather than a deer.
During an improvised opera rehearsal at a count’s palace, the servants perform while Hannchen conducts. A nobleman who fled an arranged marriage falls in love with Louise; after a series of complications, he discovers that she is the bride his uncle had intended for him.
In Rome, Don Juan pursues Donna Anna and kills her father and fiancé. The magician Faust abducts Anna after bargaining with the Devil for power, but when she resists him, he kills her; Don Juan continues his conquests and is ultimately dragged to Hell for refusing to repent.
Workers strike at Simon’s factory, where his daughter Regina is betrothed to foreman Richard. Another foreman, Stephan, joins political insurgents and occupies the factory. Fighting sets the factory ablaze, and Stephan kidnaps Regina. She tries to change his mind, but he later threatens to blow up an ammunition dump where they are hiding. Regina shoots him before he can act. The workers celebrate liberty, and Richard and the chorus close with a song for a united democratic Germany.
Knight Hugo marries Undine, a water spirit raised by fishermen, and learns that Bertalda, whom he once loved, is the fishermen’s kidnapped daughter. Bertalda seduces Hugo, who abandons Undine; the water prince Kühleborn takes her back to the depths. When Undine returns during Hugo’s wedding to Bertalda, a flood destroys the castle. Hugo is forgiven but must remain with the water spirits.
In 1698 Saardam, Peter the Great works incognito in a shipyard and befriends Russian deserter Peter Ivanov, who loves Marie. The burgomaster and foreign ambassadors search for a man named Peter but mistake Ivanov for the tsar. The real Peter secures an alliance, lets Ivanov leave with his passport, blesses his marriage to Marie, and returns to Russia.
Henry, heir to the English throne, evades his responsibilities for nocturnal adventures. His wife Catharina and the Count of Rochester set a trap for him at the tavern called The Great Admiral.
French naval captain Bernier is in love with Arianna, a woman from Corfu, who has been captured and taken to Ali Pasha’s harem. Ali orders her to forget Bernier. Bernier enters the palace under a pretext and pretends not to know Arianna, but they soon reveal their love. Ali overhears and chains Bernier. Robert and the French battalion break into the harem, free Bernier and Arianna, and return with them to France.
Count Liebenau loves Marie, daughter of armourer Stadinger, but disguises himself as the journeyman blacksmith Konrad so she will love him without regard to his rank. Stadinger mistrusts Konrad and tries to marry Marie to someone else. Liebenau stages a kidnapping and uses further deceptions to win Stadinger’s consent; when his identity is revealed, Stadinger is angered but finally blesses the couple.
Schoolmaster Baculus is dismissed for hunting on the Count’s land, threatening his engagement to Gretchen. At the Count’s birthday gathering, both the Count and Baron Kronthal pursue Gretchen, while the Baroness disguises herself as a student and helps Baculus. A series of mistaken identities is finally resolved; Baculus and Gretchen reunite, and he regains his post. Baculus also discovers that he had shot his own donkey rather than a deer.
During an improvised opera rehearsal at a count’s palace, the servants perform while Hannchen conducts. A nobleman who fled an arranged marriage falls in love with Louise; after a series of complications, he discovers that she is the bride his uncle had intended for him.
In Rome, Don Juan pursues Donna Anna and kills her father and fiancé. The magician Faust abducts Anna after bargaining with the Devil for power, but when she resists him, he kills her; Don Juan continues his conquests and is ultimately dragged to Hell for refusing to repent.
Workers strike at Simon’s factory, where his daughter Regina is betrothed to foreman Richard. Another foreman, Stephan, joins political insurgents and occupies the factory. Fighting sets the factory ablaze, and Stephan kidnaps Regina. She tries to change his mind, but he later threatens to blow up an ammunition dump where they are hiding. Regina shoots him before he can act. The workers celebrate liberty, and Richard and the chorus close with a song for a united democratic Germany.
Knight Hugo marries Undine, a water spirit raised by fishermen, and learns that Bertalda, whom he once loved, is the fishermen’s kidnapped daughter. Bertalda seduces Hugo, who abandons Undine; the water prince Kühleborn takes her back to the depths. When Undine returns during Hugo’s wedding to Bertalda, a flood destroys the castle. Hugo is forgiven but must remain with the water spirits.
In 1698 Saardam, Peter the Great works incognito in a shipyard and befriends Russian deserter Peter Ivanov, who loves Marie. The burgomaster and foreign ambassadors search for a man named Peter but mistake Ivanov for the tsar. The real Peter secures an alliance, lets Ivanov leave with his passport, blesses his marriage to Marie, and returns to Russia.
Henry, heir to the English throne, evades his responsibilities for nocturnal adventures. His wife Catharina and the Count of Rochester set a trap for him at the tavern called The Great Admiral.