Wolf Trutz

Already a famous painter, Rembrandt van Rijn is commissioned to paint the Amsterdam Archers' Guild. But upon completion of the picture, the men of the guild feel duped, because they don't consider themselves flatteringly depicted in the painting. They therefore decline to pay for the work. During this dispute, the painter finds out his wife is close to death. He finds himself terribly lonely after her passing and suffers from depression until he decides once more to marry.

Paris, 1830: Jean-Gaspard Debureau performs on the stage and delights his audience with song, wit and charm. He is, however, very unpopular with King Charles X, who is the target of much of Debureau's scornful jests. That would be a somewhat tolerable situation if it weren't for the fact that Debureau has fallen for a countess, who happens to be the King's mistress.

A German soldier on leave in Berlin goes looking for his pen pal who he has never met called Gisela. He meets instead a woman with the same name and falls in love with her.

A successful German overseas merchant with a plantation in Haiti is looking for a suitable wife in Hamburg and comes across a barmaid from the Reeperbahn with an illegitimate child. He wants to marry her, but she does not follow him out of nobility. In search of her, he finds her in Mexico as the secretary of his former lover, a writer.

Sylvia, the daughter of the pastor Kelvil, is lectrice to Lady Patricia and gets to know the young Lord Harford. They love one another, but their class differences forbid marriage. There's a sharp argument with the father, who afterwards wants to send the young lord abroad. Then Sylvia is offered money to disappear, unaware that she's already pregnant. 18 years later: Sylvia raised her son on her own as best she could. He is now known as Lord Harford, who, besides having the title Lord Illingworth, also has inherited his father's total estate and has now returned from India. Unaware of their identities, the father and son get to know one another; get into a fight; and the young man challenges the father to a duel. In order to prevent that from happening, the mother must now tell each of them the truth about their identities. The film is based on the theatre piece of the same name by Oscar Wilde.