Italy during the Napoleonic wars: A French General and his Adjutant are separated from their unit get beyond the enemy lines. There they meet Carlotta the resolute daughter of an Italian Count, who cannot withstand the charm of the French.

At the urging of her childhood friend Brémontier, Lucie de Kéradec, a wealthy widowed countess who wishes to remarry, invites all of her seven suitors to her mansion. Her untold intention is to test them by claiming to be ruined. The experience is a success in that each of the potential husbands reveals his inner nature but a failure when it comes to finding a new life partner. None of the guests passes the test except - the eighth man, namely Brémontier who loved Lucie in secret but, being penniless, had not dared declare his flame to her.