The beautiful Slavic countess Vera Preobrajenska (played by Thaïs Galitzy) is a seductress of married men, dragging them to the brink of ruin.

Vera resolves to seduce Count San Remo, the lover of her best friend, the Countess Bianca Stagno-Bellincioni (played by Ileana Leonidoff).

They were designed by Enrico Prampolini who used geometric shapes based on a strong black/white contrast: spiral, diamond, chess, symbolic figures (cats, masks spewing smoke).

Painted scenes often interact with the characters, creating a world of illusions where it is difficult to distinguish fact from fiction.

The oppressive and anti naturalistic visions can be seen as a preamble to the German expressionist cinema, which was notably inspired by the style of Prampolini.