After her father's death and her uncle having drunk all the inheritance, Virginia is left alone. She is accepted by a family of bohemians but a quarrel between the bohemians and the peasants coerce her to flee the peasants' riot. She is then helped by Raynal who falls in love with her but is too shy to tell her. Sheltered by his father, Virginia is robbed by her uncle of the money Raynal gave her to pay the bill in the village. He and his son then start to consider her a thief.