Beautiful Vienna during the Austro-Hungarian era. Lixie, a court councilor's daughter raised in a middle-class family, has fallen in love with the piano teacher Toni. To make a good impression on Lixie's strict father, Toni urgently needs a job. Then chance comes to Lixie's aid. At the Hotel Sacher, she meets Archduke Peter Ferdinand, the very man who could help Toni. But the Archduke only has eyes for Lixie. An unsuitable love affair develops between the two, which quickly escalates into a political scandal in Vienna's high society.