The young French chemist Kyprianos Mere loves Alice, the daughter of the money-loving owner of diamond mines in South Africa, John Watkins.

The girl's father refuses to give her to the young scientist because he is poor. To become rich and be able to marry Alice, Kyprianos tries to create artificial diamonds. A worker in his service secretly places a gigantic diamond he found into the test tube.

Kyprianos thinks it is artificial, names it "Star of the South," and gives it to Alice. But the diamond disappears... From here on, the novel takes on impressive interest and concludes with an ending that is both unexpected and surprising.