Jozef (Adelqui Migliar) is a young farmer who has been ordered to leave his mother (Paula de Waart) and childhood sweetheart Mareike (Jeanne van der Pers), in order to join the army during the Great War.
Carmen (Annie Bos) is a fatally attractive coquette living in the poor quarters, and working in a cigarette factory.
While she joins her confederates - a group of bandits - Jozef feels guilty not for having released her, but for having fallen in love with her.
Afterward, the guards arrive at the bar to search for Jozef, and he is convinced by Carmen to join her as a fugitive.
They become part of an organised crime, which includes Carmen entertaining a group of soldiers, while the other men, among them Jozef, get the stuff over the border.
Carmen, aware that she can't live up to Jozef's expectations, finds refuge in a bar.
The same night, Carmen falls for Dalboni (Jan van Dommelen), a celebrated baritone.
A year later, she is a happily married woman living in extreme wealth, while Jozef wanders through the streets.