A hotel in Surabaya, Java has some features of a brothel. Anita plays in a women's orchestra is exposed to the bandleaders invites. The owner of the hotel wants Anita to attract customers. They two become rivals over Anita.
Maria, a young Russian student, is loved by Viktor Sabline, a Russian scientist. They marry and immediately afterwards, the World War breaks out and Viktor is drafted as lieutenant.
The engineer Ragge has taken shipowner Gustafsson's daughter Anna-Greta on a sail cruise and they stay on an island overnight. When the shipowner finds out, Ragge gets sacked from the shipyard where he works.
