Perceiving that her husband no longer loves her, Gerda, Countess Wallentin, agrees to go to Vienna to visit relatives, leaving the count in Germany to pursue his political ambitions with Baroness Brings, a close friend.  En route, Gerda is seduced by Raoul Stanislav, a famous musician.  She leaves the train for a brief time, and it departs without her; later she finds that the train crashed, killing everyone aboard.  Guilty because of her affair, Gerda fails to notify her husband of her survival.

Later, as hostess in a fashionable Viennese gambling den, she sees her husband, who is strangely attracted to her because of what seems to be a remarkable resemblance to his wife.  Gerda discloses her identity and returns to her husband.  Afterward, seeing that he does not really love her, she takes their child and sails to America with a wealthy patron of the gambling house.