Joline, a passionate and vivacious cabaret dancer in Paris' Latin Quarter, becomes infatuated with penniless American artist Paul Granville and soon becomes his mistress. With Joline as his model, Paul finally wins the recognition he has sought, but when Count Adrian de Roche commissions him to paint "the Madonna of the Rose Bush," he decides to seek a model more befitting the role. Joline's pleas finally convince Paul to take her to the portrait's site, an old monastery behind which is a rosebush that bloomed only once, when the Madonna appeared among its branches. At Joline's touch, the bush again bursts into bloom, which moves her so greatly that she leaves her lover and begins a new life. As a Red Cross nurse in World War I, Joline discovers Paul wounded on a battlefield, and following his recovery they marry.