While touring with a dance troupe in 1892, Millicent Hopkins meets Clive Loring who is campaigning for Parliament in the English Midlands. They fall in love and Millie remains behind at her father's home while her friend Rose Bridges and the rest of the company go to London. Lord Belmont, Clive's older brother, tells her that a marriage below Clive's station would jeopardize his future happiness. She resolves to drop out of his life and, without telling him, rejoins the troupe at the Empire Theatre. Millie and Rose, leaving the theatre without removing their makeup, are stopped and questioned by a bobby. They flee and Millie takes refuge in the rooms of a sympathetic stranger, Spanish concert pianist Jose Martinez, where she remains most of the night. The next morning, a Scotland Yard Inspector arrives and arrests Martinez.