At a fashionable wedding in Venice, Carlotta and Marco, presumably a blind beggar, rob the bridegroom and the bride's father during the confusion that ensues when Carlotta feigns a swoon. Trying to evade the police, Carlotta lands in the gondola of Kenneth Wilson, an American artist. Feeling that Carlotta is reformable, Kenneth advertises for the canal Gypsy, and she calls, but under the domination of Marco. They plot to rob Kenneth of his valuables but are thwarted when discovered by him. Carlotta and Kenneth encounter Jean, the artist's fiancée, who arrives on a surprise visit; a journalist who fancies himself a great lover makes advances to Carlotta, which she avoids by jumping into the canal; and she outwits her pursuers by disguising herself in "borrowed" finery. During the Venetian Carnival, Carlotta and Marco are identified and searched when Jean's pearls are stolen. Later, Carlotta identifies Marco as the thief; and Kenneth, who has been rejected by his fiancée, wins Carlotta's love.