As France embarked upon her bloody revolution in 1789, La Boulaye was a man with no personal grievance against the aristocracy – until his employer, the Marquis de Fresnoy de Bellecour, ruthlessly beat and dismissed him for falling in love with Suzanne, his beautiful daughter. Faced with no job and an uncertain destiny, La Boulaye devoted himself to the cause of the Revolution. Four years later, at the height of the aristocratic executions, Beulaye comes face to face with the Marquis once more – yet now it is he who holds the power and his former master who must beg for mercy.