In Josef von Sternberg's atmospheric spin on the espionage thriller, Marlene Dietrich further develops her shrew star persona in the role of a widow turned streetwalker who is recruited to spy for Austria during World War I. Adopting the code name X-27, Dietrich's wily heroine devotes her gifts for seduction and duplicity-- as well as her musical talents-- to the patriotic cause, until she finds a worthy adversary in a roguish Russian colonel, who draws her into a fatal game of cat and mouse and tests the strength of her loyalties.