The circus dancer Lulu is a thoroughly liberal being. Although she loves her former savior, the clown Alfredo, she begins a relationship with the noble Henri von Reithofen. Henri kills himself ruined by the horrendous expenses for Lulu. She however is fishing for the next rich patron, the much older Baron Waldheim. His son knows Lulu and warns his father that she will also hurt him. Waldheim succumbs to Lulus's insinuations and punishes his son.