Sonja, a little ballerina at the Grand Theater, is secretly in love with the handsome tenor Luis Mariano. One night, she hurts her feet while dancing and under the influence of a sedative falls asleep and starts dreaming. She is Sonja Ilyanova now, a young gypsy dancer who dreams of performing before Alexei, the son of the Czar.

The plot revolves around a gang of criminals, mostly former guards of Auschwitz, who print and distribute counterfeit U.S. currency in Berlin after World War II.