Handsome young Austrian-Hungarian emperor Franz Joseph I grudgingly accepts to prevent diplomatic complication by accepting betrothal, arranged by his domineering mother empress-dowager Sophie, to cousin Helene 'Nene', daughter of Bavarian royal Duke Max, kin of the Bavarian king. Her mother, Sophie's sister Duchess Ludovika, agrees to bring Nene to Ischl for a ball, without even informing Max, and takes her younger sister Elisabeth 'Sissi', a nature-loving, outspoken tomboy, along as cover. Complicating the task of clumsy court-assigned security chief Böckl, a major in the military gendarmes (police), Sissi escaped to go fishing and bumps into the carriage of the emperor, who is instantly charmed, even smitten, but she presented herself as Lisl of Possenhofen, after Max's rustic residence. Only at the ball, he learns the truth and tells shocked Sophie he selected the kid sister, who initially refuses to 'steal' Nene's fiance, but ultimately the latter finds another and the deal is struck. After a grand voyage along the Danube, Sissi moves into the Vienna palace Hofburg, where her country manner keeps shocking etiquette-obsessed 'mentor' Sophie, yet the royal wedding takes place with truly imperial pomp.—KGF Vissers