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I'm not even joking: here is what happens in this film: Mona Reid, called The White Moth, stars in a dancing act in a Paris theatre with her dancing partner/impresario Gonzalo Montrez, named "El Volcano", who is in love with her, however with no hopes. Good for Ninon Aurel, rival of Mona in art and in love, who wants to keep Gonzalo all for herself (again, with little hopes).

As for Mona, she is in a love relationship with wealthy Douglas Morley, who in his turn deserts his wife-to-be Gwendolyne Dallas. But, in Douglas brother's (Vantine) mind Mona is just a gold hunter (and Gonzalo's scandalous lover): therefore he tries to keep her away from Douglas. After the jealous Gonzalo fires Mona (whose place in the show is taken by Ninon) Vantine meets the White Moth, and talks to her occasionally (without even telling her his name). Then a crime happens - Gonzalo himself is involved in it in some obscure ways - and Mona, being a witness, but unwilling to testify, is proposed by Vantine to flee the country.

The next day, aboard the steamer for New York there is Mona. And Vantine. He makes love to her, without arousing a great interest, and wants to marry her. What happens after landing in America? They marry! Then Vantine tells Mona that he has married her just so she couldn't marry Douglas, and leaves for Paris. Mona is devastated. She must have been really in love with Vantine. In the meantime, in France, Douglas marries Gwendolyn (and sends Mona a congratulatory card for her own marriage).

Vantine sails back to New York, goes to Mona and proclaims his love for her. Yes, he does. She says that love, in her, is dead. In Mona's apartment Vantine finds Gonzalo, still believing that he is her lover. Gonzalo had come just to propose a new show together (and also to propose...), and retreats to a neighbouring studio he has rented, which he shares with Ninon.

In Gonzalo's studio, later, enters Mona, requesting him to tell all the truth to her husband, and pointing a gun at him.

Next enters Vantine. He finds Gonzalo on the ground, badly wounded. "She shot me", says Gonzalo. She shot him, indeed. And she was Ninon. As Vantine calls the ambulance, Mona leaves the room.

Really, what kind of a story is that?

The brilliant director Maurice Tourneur has made the best that he could, but, you know, who really can tell who carries the responsibility for the finite product, in the golden era of the so-called Studio System? There were screenwriters, subject writers, film editors, producers above all, with their East-coast financing businessmen - who had always been trying not only to make the ends meet, but to earn as much money as possible from the movie industry - and censorship... In the end, even directors have to eat...