Wilhelmine Enke, the daughter of a trumpeter, becomes the mistress of Crown Prince Frederick William II, the successor to Frederick the Great. The fact that the beautiful Wilhelmine is of common birth makes the love between her and the portly Frederick William a problem. So Frederick William marries her off to a valet and keeps her close to him. Later, he elevates her to the nobility and makes her Countess Lichtenau. After his death, she is put on trial for high treason, but the case is unsuccessful. She spends her twilight years in a small cottage near Berlin.