The Devil, in the guise of a human, meets a young couple who remark upon looking at a Renaissance painting of a martyr that Evil could never triumph over Good.
Lord John, a detective novelist and the Marquis of Haslemere's brother, receives word that the stage adaption of one of his stories will not be performed because Roger Odell, a millionaire, has spoken against him.
Out of the blue, war is declared, making two otherwise friendly neighbouring nations deadly enemies. Amid the inferno, finding themselves on different sides of the conflict, Elsa and Alexis are forced to call off their engagement.
Emphasizing themes of female independence and the esteem due to the men serving in the armed forces, the plot involves a strong-willed young woman (Agnes Vernon) who defies her father in order to marry a soldier (Hobart Henly) instead of the well-to-do suitor preferred by her father.
The story of Silvio Pellico who was arrested on the charge of carbonarism and conveyed to the Santa Margherita prison, then moved to the Piombi at Venice The sentence of death pronounced on him in February 1822 was finally commuted to fifteen years of jail in harsh condition, and he was placed in the Spielberg, at BrĂ¼nn (today's Brno).