[2] Thomas Gainsborough's painting The Blue Boy and Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray were inspirations for Murnau to create this film.

[3] Thomas von Weerth (Ernst Hofmann) is a poverty-stricken aristocrat who lives in his broken-down castle with a single old servant (Karl Platen).

One night, Weerth dreams that his ancestor steps out of the painting and shows him where the emerald is.

They sing, dance and put on skits for von Weerth, who falls instantly in love with a blonde gypsy girl (Blandine Ebinger).

As she forces von Weerth to dance attendance on her, the rest of the gypsies steal the emerald and everything else in the castle and set fire to the building.