- Prince Tonio of Bothalia, a mythical kingdom in the Balkan Mountains, escapes an arranged marriage to Princess Athalia, the elderly daughter of a neighboring king. Filled with wanderlust, he becomes a sailor and goes to San Francisco where he becomes a member of a Bohemian artist colony. After Burton Randall, an artist friend, gets him a job as a Maitre D'Armes fencing instructor, Tonio meets a young singer from the Barbary Coast named Fluffy, falls in love with her, and rescues her from political boss Murphy who tries to seduce her. Later, an ambassador from Bothalia, Count Metropolski; arrives to tell Prince Tonio that his uncle has been assassinated and that he is now the sole heir to the throne. Tonio must decide between duty and love, and he chooses love, renouncing the throne.—Pamela Short
- The young prince, Tonio of Bothalia, is tired of the pomp and pettiness of the little Balkan principality, which his father rules. He longs to venture out in the world and to seek adventures. On the day of his betrothal for dynastic purposes, to the Princess Athalla, an elderly daughter of a neighboring protectorate, this feeling of exasperation becomes acute and he wanders a distance from the castle. While in this mood he chances upon a wandering artist, Burton Randall, of San Francisco, who sympathizes with him, and who urges him to grasp the first opportunity of leaving the court. The prince follows the advice of his artist friend, slips away from the castle and sometime later arrives in San Francisco on a sailing ship as an ordinary seaman. With his sailor friends, he spends his first night ashore in one of the music halls on the Barbary Coast. Fluffy, a young and fascinating dancer, is insulted by "Spud" Murphy, the political boss of the district. Tonio comes to her rescue and after a free-for-all fight, lands in a prison cell. Fluffy, who sticks by her rescuer, finds that the only man he knows in San Francisco is the artist, Burton Randall. She enlists Randall's sympathies. He comes to the rescue of the prince. Randall takes him and Fluffy to the Bohemian quarters he occupies, where he installs them with a coterie of artists who work, play and starve in a set of dingy studios. Tonio is fitted out with foils and paraphernalia, and gives fencing lessons to those who have the courage to mount the steep streets which lead to the studio. These are happy days for the emancipated prince, who falls in love with Fluffy. While the prince is pursuing his romance, there are great happenings in Bothalia. The King and Crown Prince have been assassinated, and the missing Tonio is heir to the throne. The Bothalian Embassy manages to trace Tonio to his Bohemian lair and bring all diplomatic pressure to force him to break his romance with Fluffy and return to Bothalia. But love is stronger than diplomacy and after a struggle with his ministers, Prince Tonio decides to renounce his allegiance to Bothalia and take to the open road with Fluffy.—Moving Picture World synopsis
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