A young woman, Nina, works as a singer at a Copenhagen variety theatre, but when her contract expires she suddenly finds herself with no income to support her and her old mother. Upon seeing a newspaper advertisement looking for singers for a theatre in St. Petersburg, Nina jumps at the chance – and a few weeks later she is on her way. However, the advertisement is a hoax, and she actually ends up in a notorious brothel. She fears that all hope is out, but at the same time her sailor boyfriend has just landed in St. Petersburg and is leaving no stone unturned to find his beloved.