A young American businessman visits Communist Berlin and meets a young German woman. When the Communist government attempts to pass a resolution condemning the motives of the democracies, the girl defies them. Although even the Communist leadership expresses concern with his government's doctrines, her life remains at risk. The businessman urges the girl to escape with him to the Allied zone, but she refuses, preferring to stay to fight for her ideals.

The story of Johann Friedrich Böttger, an apothecary’s apprentice and alchemist’s assistant. Fleeing from the Prussian King, he goes to Saxony, where King Frederick August the Strong takes him to a fortress and demands that he create gold. Böttger is equipped with everything he would need for the task, but he has known for a while that actual gold production is a myth and instead experiments with porcelain—white porcelain, as the Chinese are said to possess. In 1709, he finally succeeds in surprising the King with the "white gold," the first white porcelain made in Europe, he hopes for freedom.