In a middle-European village a century or more ago, Death (Berhhard Goetzke) takes a young man (Walter Janssen) just before he is to be married. His lover (Lil Dagover) seeks out the Death figure in a room filled with thousands of burning candles, each representing a human life. Filled with pity for her, he promises to return the young man if she can save even one of three lives about to flicker out.

This edition of Destiny is digitally mastered from a 35mm fine grain master print of the French reissue version, Les Trois Lumieres. New English titles are translated from the original German censor records and composed in typefaces approximating those in the prints of 1921. The images are in color tints authentic to German films of the same year. A new orchestral score recorded in digital stereo by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra uses authentic film music arrangements of the period and German traditional tunes as indicated by the action on screen.