We are in France in the early half of the 19th century at a convent where a mysterious and beautiful young woman from an impoverished noble line, Sara Emanuelle de Maupers, is soon to take her vows. As a demonstration of faith, the Abbess makes her sign over all her worldly possesions to the Church. Sara says not a word, but signs. The Abbess expresses her uneasiness to the Archdeacon. She has seen Sara destroying a cryptic message found in a Book of the Hours that had been sent to the convent library from Germany. Sara claimed that she was merely destorying her own coat of arms, a sign of her own worldliness. The Archdeacon remarks on the odd story of the crest of the Maupers family, how they share this crest with the Auerspergs of Germany. The ceremony begins. Sara is asked if she accepts “the Light, the Hope and the Life.” She speaks for the first time in the film, replying: “No.” The convent is thrown into pandemonium. The nuns dash out, leaving the Archdeacon to punish Sara for her sacrilege. The tables are quickly turned when Sara removes an ornamental weapon from the wall and forces the Archdeacon down into the vault below the altar. She escapes through a window out into the night.
The scene shifts to a castle deep in the Black Forest far from civilization. It is the castle of Axel, the last Count of Auersperg, a beautiful young man with a sober, philosophic bearing. His cousin, the Commander, who seems a bit of a rakish courtier, has traveled to this remote place to settle a small inheritance they share. While the Commander awaits his host he meets Herr Zacherias, the old steward, who informs the Commander of the great secret of the Auerspergs. During the Napoleonic Wars Axel’s father had been leader of a secret mission to transport the contents of the Frankfurt National Bank, consisting of millions in solid gold and coins. The party was ambushed and Axel’s father killed, and the gold presumably taken by the French. But now Herr Zacharias informs the Commander that the gold is more likely to be hidden here in the vicinity of the very castle. He has tried to tell this to Axel, but the young Count has forbade mention of the subject. The Commander agrees to help Herr Zacharias for the sake of Axel, but secretly wonders if he can’t dispose of the Count and claim the treasure for himself. . .
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