France in the late 1600s, the son of a widowed lord is kidnapped by gypsies, who carve a permanent grin on the child's face. When the deformed boy grows up, he falls in love with a blind girl named Dea, and joins a touring company as a performer. Calling himself Gwynplaine, he develops an act in which he reveals his hideous face to the crowds for money. A sexually perverse, seductive socialite named Josiane becomes attracted to him and seeks to possess him.
—Ulf Kjell Gür