- A scientist creates a beautiful "perfect woman", but since she is artificial, she seems soul-less and with no sense of morality, she brings ruin to all around her.
- Medical student Frank Braun [Carlheinz Böhm] arrives at the estate of his uncle, Professor Jacob ten Brinken [Erich von Stroheim], to ask for money so that he can continue his studies. His uncle is not home, but Frank is surprised to see a beautiful young girl seated on the railing of a second story porch at the top of a trellis. When Frank asks about the girl, the servant denies that they have any guests and tells Frank to come back tomorrow to talk with his uncle. But Frank doesn't want to wait until tomorrow. He tells his friends RalphGoutram [Rolf Henniger] and Gerald [Harry Meyenrin] about the girl; the three of them decide to investigate. They return to search the estate. Ralph and Gerald both catch glimpses of the girl, but it is Frank who finally catches up with her. She invites him to meet her the next day at 3 PM near the sundial.
In fact, it was about this girl that ten Brinken had gone away. She is his daughter Alraune [Hildegard Knef], and she ran away from the convent school. Not that the Mother Superior is unhappy about Alraune leaving. Alraune has a reputation at the convent of causing trouble. She reads "obscene literature," and she incites the other girls to do nasty things, even though Alraune herself always comes out blameless. Good riddance, she says.
When Frank finally gets to see his uncle, ten Brinken refuses to give him the money for his studies, so Frank goes to see an old family friend, Princess Wolkonski [Trude Hesterberg]. The Princess has eyes on Frank as a husband for her daughter Olga [Julia Koschka], so the Princess offers to loan Frank the money he needs to continue his medical studies on the provision that he study at the Sorbonne in Paris (she wants to keep him away from Alraune). She also explains to Frank that his uncle was once a medical doctor, but he was expelled from the university for conducting unusual experiments. She thinks it's for this reason that ten Brinken doesn't like young Frank, who is studying to become a doctor.
The next day, Frank meets Alraune at the sundial. They profess their love for each other. When Frank informs Alraune that he'll be leaving tomorrow for Paris, Alraune is extremely pleased and tells Frank that she will accompany him. They arrange to meet the next day at the sundial. When ten Brinken learns about Frank's meeting with Alraune, he changes his mind about the loan. But Frank refuses the money and tells ten Brinken of his love for Alraune, so ten Brinken tells Frank the truth about her. He gives Frank a diary in which he describes the circumstances surrounding her birth. Aided by Princess Wolkonski, ten Brinken artificially impregnated a seedy prostitute with the sperm from a murderer about to be hanged. Alraune, he says, already shows evidence of the evil characteristics of her true parents.
Horrified by the truth of Alraune's ancestry, Frank leaves for Paris that night and fails to meet Alraune as planned. Letters that Alraune sends to Frank come back "refused". Feeling betrayed by Frank, Alraune begins to live up to her legacy. First, she suggests that her father buy a seemingly worthless tract of land, but when they ride out to survey the land, they uncover a sulfur spring, spouting water that can be developed into a successful health spa. Olga comes to stay with the ten Brinkens while her mother travels to Paris. When Olga receives a letter from her mother regarding Olga's engagement to Frank, Alraune convinces Olga that no man who really loved her would send his love through his fiancee's mother, so Olga attempts suicide by poison.
Alraune takes to flirting with men who are infatuated with her. She goes horseback riding in a rainstorm with Gerald. She goes riding in a carriage with the coachman Mathieu [Hans Cossy]. She poses for Ralph so that he can paint her. When one of Alraune's necklaces comes up missing and is found in the luggage of her governess, Mlle Duvaliere [Denise Vernac], Alraune requests that Mlle be dismissed. Later she learns that it was Dr Mohn [Harry Halm] who took the key to Alraune's jewelry box, stole the necklace, and planted it in Mlle's luggage, all to gain Alraune's favor. Frank returns from Paris with his doctorate, but still he refuses to have anything to do with Alraune. Distraught by Frank's continued coldness towards her, Alraune tires of her conquests, and they begin to die. Mathieu's carriage runs over a cliff. Ralph catches pneumonia and dies. Gerald dies in a duel with Dr Mohn.
No man seems to make Alraune happy. Alraune herself wonders whether she is capable of loving and seems motivated by only one thing -- Frank Braun. She begs Frank to help her. When Frank sees Alraune cry, he realizes that everything he was told about her was untrue...she does have feelings for others, she has a heart, she has a soul. Frank takes Alraune in his arms, and they plan to go away together. Alraune tells her father about her love for Frank, but ten Brinken refuses to let her go. Instead, he gives her the diary and tells her to read about her parents. He warns her that, if she goes away with Frank, she will destroy him, too, just as surely as she destroyed the others. Alraune decides not to go away with Frank.
Days pass. Dr Mohn threatens to go public with ten Brinken's illegal experiments. Ten Brinken plans to take his money and move away from Germany with Alraune. Princess Wolkonski worries that revealing ten Brinken's secrets will ruin her, too. Frank can think of nothing other than Alraune. Together, Frank and the Princess go to see the ten Brinkens. While the Princess argues with ten Brinken, Frank pursues Alraune through the snow. Alraune keeps seeing images of her dead suitors, and she faints. When she comes to, Frank tells her that he loves her and tries to convince her that she had nothing to do with the deaths, but Alraune sees herself as the bringer of destruction because she is nothing more than a horrible experiment, brought into being by the evil thoughts of a depraved man. Frank assures her that both good and evil are passed into each individual and that the good in Alraune can win over the evil. The evil thing is that she was brought up without love. Whoever is brought up without love is sick, Frank moralizes.
As Frank carries Alraune back towards the house, her father pulls out a gun and shoots her. Alraune dies, and ten Brinken is hanged. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl]
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