Theodor Fontane's novel about a young girl who as a teenager marries a stiff bureaucrat, has a love affair out of boredom and loneliness and has to suffer the consequences years later should be well known.
Charming Tom is pursuing fine Olivia both cheerfully and stubbornly. At first, she rejects him brutally; but then she finds pleasure in this intrusive guy, who’s following her everywhere. They spend an evening together; but afterwards, Olivia determines, that a valuable bracelet has been stolen from her. Now she thinks Tom is the infamous jewel thief, who’s been terrorizing the neighborhood.
In 1885, famous New York Metropolitan Opera singer Maddalena dall' Orto is scheduled to perform at a festival in the German residence of Ilmingen. It soon becomes obvious that she is non other than Magda von Schwartze, who left the town eight years ago against her father's wishes to become a singer.
William MacPhab loses seven-pounds in the stock market and decides to slap the man who was responsible for the stock manipulation that caused him to lose his money. Astor Terbanks, the stock-market manipulator is surprised the next day when he gets soundly slapped by MacPhab, and the latter promises to deliver one more a day for the next six days. Terbank's daughter, Daisy, is amused by the procedure and is attracted to MacPhab.
The story is one of the classic operetta stories with a young princess destined to marry a king whom her mother tries to enforce while the young woman tries to escape her fate.
France in the 15th Century: The country is marked by the wars with England and internal power struggles. King Charles sees himself powerless against the state. As emerges from the people suddenly a young woman named Johanna, who claimed that the Archangel Gabriel to be appointed, to save France. First of all doubt the king in their words, but he remembers that the people through this "help of God" is gaining new courage. With the slogan "God and the Virgin!" pulls the revivified victorious army into battle against the English-Burgundian alliance. After Johanna King Charles is crowned at Reims, there breaks the plague over the country in. Now Johanna all the blame on the disaster: God would punish believe in the country for that a heretic; if Johanna were actual a holy, she would deal also with the plague. The waning faith weakens France, England is again on the rise. But Johanna is executed as a witch. Only years later annulled the verdict of the Holy and Johanna explained.
