Foreman West lives in a small mining town with his daughters Edith and Dina. When entrepreneur and mine owner Frank Stoll comes to town to inspect the work, he falls in love with Dina. Against her father's will, she elopes with the unscrupulous Stoll. News of a meteor approaching the earth causes panic and Stoll exploits the situation to make a killing on the stock market; Collaborating with the press to quell the news of the meteor eases public tensions and guarantees him a fortune. He plans to survive in a secret underground tunnel, with Dina and his wealthy pals in tow. But things don't go as planned.

Part of the artificial-creature series encompassing Der Golem (1914 and 1920), Alraune (1918, 1928, 1930) and Metropolis (1926), 'Homunculus' was the most popular serial in Germany during World War I even influencing the dress of fashionable Berlin. Foenss, a Danish star, is the perfect creature manufactured in a laboratory by Kuehne. Having discovered his origins, that he has no 'soul' and is incapable of love, he revenges himself on mankind, instigating revolutions and becoming a monstrous but beautiful tyrant, relentlessly pursued by his creator-father who seeks to rectify his mistake.

Richard Ortmann the artificial man (Homunculus) has become the head of the corporation that represents the capital and power of the country, but he has stopped believing in human love. All the more clear is his goal now: the annihilation of mankind.

The homunculus and his companion Edgar Rodin make an invention that would allow the hateful homunculus to destroy the world. But first he wants to find out about love. When he observes how young Anna is rejected by her parents, he takes care of her and asks her parents for forgiveness - without success. He brings her to her seducer, who also rejects the girl. The homunculus then takes revenge by ruining the man financially and throwing Anna at his feet. But she still loves the villain and asks Homunculus for mercy. The homunculus cannot understand this feeling of love - he wants to try it out on himself. He puts a young woman who loves him to the hardest test, but she will do anything for him, sacrificing her fiancé and her parents. Only when he reveals his artificial nature to her, she leaves him. This experience confirms the homunculus in his intention to destroy mankind.

A group of scientists, led by a Professor Ortmann, produce a living human child using scientific processes - a "homunculus." This creature is human in every way, except that he cannot experience love.

Ayan, Maharajah of Eschnapur, believes that his wife, Princess Savitri, has been unfaithful to him with officer Mac Allan. He decides to bury her alive, so he sends the Yogi Ramigani to England to look for Herbert Rowland, an architect; but when he orders him to build a tomb, Rowland refuses.

A group of scientists, led by a Professor Ortmann, produce a living human child using scientific processes — a "homunculus." This creature is human in every way, except that he cannot experience love.