Ex-King Alfred VII is a young, handsome, and charming erstwhile monarch who once ruled a nation of two million people. Now all he has left are his Count Humbert and Duchess Anna, along with enough money to live an idle life in Paris with dozens of servants. He hasn't seen daylight in years; he prefers instead to drink himself into a stupor regularly. He's phenomenally bored, and a routine trip to a tedious cabaret finds a chorus girl flirting with him. He calls her to his apartment, apparently to seduce her as he's done many times before, but when she comes, he's passed out. Her outrage gives Humbert and Anna the idea that might bring Alfred out of his unhappy ennui - tell him she didn't come, and have her act as though he weren't so important after all. He of course pursues her with vigor and is snapped out of his apathy. But what happens if she falls in love with him?