Petroff Sementick, a Russian nobleman, becomes ruined financially. His creditors seize all his property and the man becomes a wanderer. He continues this precarious existence until one day he rescues a man from under the wreckage of his turnout. It transpires to be Prince Dimitrieff. In a sudden burst of thankfulness for his deliverance, the Prince retains Sementick as overseer of the palace. Each day's experience drives home to him what a bitter thing it is to eat the bread of others. The great possessions of Princess Sonia only mock her, for the Prince, a man of overbearing vanity, seeks tribute to it in new smiles. Tatiana Leontieff, the Russian imperial Dancer, is his latest conquest. While he basks in the warmth of her calculating smiles, the Princess Sonia wanders alone and forgotten through the palace grounds. Her steps are stayed by the sound of piercingly sweet strains, and thus commences the friendship between the Princess and her vassal which is fostered by their loneliness into a deep love. Tatiana Leontieff tires of her Dimitrieff. A younger noble engages her attention. This noble and the Prince engage in a duel over the dancer. Dimitrieff's life pays the price of his vagrant affections. He closes his eyes on this world in Sonia's presence. She is overwhelmed by grief. Twenty years have passed. Petroff Sementick has degenerated into a simple fellow who is the laughing stock of all. His Princess Sonia had died abroad, leaving a daughter. Sementick, faithful to the memory of his Princess, surrounds her portrait with fragrant flowers each day. Sementick is excited over word that the Princess Olga, Sonia's daughter, is coming with her husband to reside in the palace. Sementick's anguish is terrible to behold. He cannot bear the thought that his daughter will see her father jeered at and a spectacle for all to scorn. But an overwhelming hunger to behold her keeps him from fleeing. The Princess and her husband arrive and accept the rustic entertainment arranged in their honor. Sementick, called upon to do his share, pours forth his heart in the old songs that won the Princess Sonia. Follows a dinner at the palace to a company of notables. After the repast Sementick is called upon to divert them. They ply him with drink, then crown the maudlin with the fool's cap, pelting him with the flowers that decorate Sonia's portrait. At this desecration of his beloved Princess, he regains a terrible lucidity and shouts aloud the secret of his life to the assembled guests. All are shocked by the disclosure. Sementick, fearing the consequences, takes a secret farewell of Sonia's portrait in the morning, before resuming his wanderings. Olga sees him praying before her mother's portrait. A great understanding comes to her. Sementick, on the point of starting from the palace, is called back by the master. He is offered pardon if he will recall his terrible confession. Sementick looks at Olga; her eyes plead with him. He perjures himself. As he turns to leave Olga holds out her arms and bestows upon him a daughter's kiss.