This historic mini-series is set just after the execution of Louis XVI and follows the actions of a group of loyal royalists, led by the Chevalier de Maison-Rouge. His goal is to free Queen Marie-Antoinette and the young King Louis XVII, but he runs into the brutal jailer Simon who makes sure to thwart any attempt to escape.

A secondary plot line deals with the feelings of Lindet, the lieutenant of the national guard, towards Geneviève, the young protege of the royalist Morand, which for the sans-culottes is a crime in itself.