Sincere but struggling sculptor Tommasso (Caruso--bushy moustache, gawky) works in an ornamental plaster shop, but his masterpiece on the side is a bust of his cousin Caroli (Caruso--no moustache, polished), who is the Metropolitan Opera's leading tenor. Tommasso hopes to marry his model Rosa, but her father, restaurant owner Pietro, wants her to find someone more settled and money-conscious, such as the greengrocer Lombardi down the street. Tommasso, he says, throws away his money, such as for a pair of tickets to take Rosa to the opera to see his famed cousin. After the opera, the cousins cross paths in the swanky Galeotto's restaurant, but when neither recognizes the other, Tommasso is generally mocked and Rosa believes him a liar and unworthy. Tommasso must recover his reputation and make a sale, preferably the Caroli bust to his cousin, in order to win Rosa back.

Overly mature Betty Blythe is cast as the gamine-like granddaughter of a Turkish rabbi, who is taken out of her cozy environs by a music-hall star and transformed into a cabaret dancer. It isn't that she hates the work; it's simply that she feels she has turned her back on her people. Blythe is rescued by an elderly Jewish leader who takes her to a Zionist colony in Palestine. She marries her benefactor, but her heart remains with her true love back in Constantinople.