Alexei Ivanovich, a tutor working for a Russian family living in a suite at a German hotel. The patriarch of the family, The General, is indebted to the Frenchman Des Grieux and has mortgaged his property in Russia to pay only a small amount of his debt. Alexei is hopelessly in love with Polina, the General's stepdaughter, and swears an oath of servitude to her....