Louise is abandoned as a young baby and raised by a couple with a daughter of their own, named Henrietta.  Together, the two girls are orphaned and determined to stick together.  Louise suddenly loses her eyesight, and the two girls flee to Paris, thinking they may find a cure there.  Griffith makes several statements about events happening at different points in history, both the French Revolution of the late eighteenth century and the spread of Bolshevism of the early twentieth century.