Lola Montez, the infamous and self-invented nineteenth century dancer, throws a small birthday party for the neglected Ludwig II - the grandson of her lover, King Ludwig I - in the forbidden garden of the Queen, Against the backdrop of student riots she is advised by a pair of satyrs, as well as Richard Wagner (whose Tannhauser she stages as entertainment for little Ludwig) that her days in Bavaria are precarious and numbered. Forced to confront the failure of her celebrity to attain a position of power, she flees the country as the cuckolded King is faced with the threat of abdication.