This version of La Bohème is not based on the libretto of Puccini's opera, but goes back to that work's source: Henri Murger's 1851 French stories Scènes de la vie de bohème (Scenes from Bohemian Life). Lillian Gish (Mimi) and John Gilbert (Rodolphe) star in the story of starving artists living in the same apartment building. Set in the bohemian world of in Paris' Latin quarter in 1830, the love story follows a couple and their friends who struggle to pay the rent each month.

Mimi encourages Rodolphe to finish writing a play, but through her sacrifices and unfortunate circumstances, she deceives him into thinking his play will be performed. Heartbreak and tragedy ensue as the lovers are torn apart by poverty, jealousy, misunderstanding and illness.

A live piano accompaniment by Joseph Li of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, in partnership with the Houston Grand Opera, sets the silent film alongside Puccini's operatic score for a unique presentation of story, film and music.