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On the eve of great success, a scientist ("He Who Gets Slapped") loses both his invention and his wife to Baron Regnard, who describes his victim as a fool.  He decides to lose himself in the laughter of others and becomes France's most famous clown.  Even Consuelo, a bareback rider who loves her partner, Bezano, laughs when He confesses his love for her.

Learning that Consuelo's father, Count Mancini, plans her marriage to Baron Regnard, He releases a lion which kills the pair; and, fatally stabbed by Regnard, the clown stumbles and staggers around the circus ring to the delight of the audience.  He dies in the arms of Consuelo, who is free to marry Bezano.