Mathilde, daughter of the wealthy Alsatian industrial baron Kempff, marries the handsome captain in the French cavalry, count de la Tour. But as the Franco-Prussian war breaks out, the count is killed in action. Mathilde is left to raise their child, Louis, alone with her father. She never forgives the Germans the loss of her mother country, France, and of her husband. As Louis grows up and sets out to marry Friederike of a Prussian family, Mathilde categorically refuses to talk to her in-laws.
—gpermant-1