In fin de siècle Paris, Elena Sokorowska, a young, beautiful, and free-spirited Polish princess, thinks that the daisies she gives to her boyfriends help them achieve their ambitions, and, once they do so, she loses interest and looks for another man to help.

Henri is able to convince Elena to help with the plot, and, once promised the General will enact policies favorable to his business, the calculating Martin-Michaud releases her from their engagement.

Henri, hoping to win Elena's heart, manages to get inside, and a plan is formulated to help the General get past the police and head to Paris.

He is surprised to find Paulette, who came to Bourbon-Salins with Henri, in the wagon that is supposed to take him to the train station, and he impulsively agrees to abandon his political obligations and go with her to the south of France, instead of Paris.

Roger Ebert wrote that, while the plot is about a Polish princess "who may have the future of France in her hands", "The movie is about something else - about Bergman's rare eroticism, and the way her face seems to have an inner light on film.

'"[4] Ebert also commented that "Renoir preserves a strong erotic and romantic thread (the love between Bergman and Ferrer) all the way through the movie's farcical elements.