Having escaped death by the guillotine, Dr. Frankenstein relocates to Carlsbruck. There, as Dr. Victor Stein, he successfully establishes himself as a physician with a large practice and a hospital for the poor. After three years, however, he is recognized by Dr. Hans Kleve, but rather than expose him, the young doctor wants to join him in his research. Frankenstein has resumed his experiments, and is on the verge of re-animating a body he has constructed using the brain of Fritz, the deformed assistant who helped him escape from his death sentence. The operation goes quite well and Fritz is quite pleased with his new body. An encounter with a drunken hospital attendant, however, sends him on the run. As his mind and his body deteriorates, he publicly reveals the good Doctor's true identity.