A foreigner-along with his wife and their young daughter-stands before the Tuileries, waiting for an audience with Napoleon.

Only the great leader, he reasons, will understand his wretched plight and the vendetta that has driven him here.

When Ginevra Piombo falls in love 15 years later with a young Corsican officer hiding from the authorities in the aftermath of Waterloo, she does not realize that this one moment from her past will force her to make the greatest decision of her life: a choice between two loves, and between life or death.