1 July 1789, Paris - Two weeks before the Revolution: France is undergoing a political upheaval unlike anything it has known before. Louis XVI is using savage mercenary forces and food blockages, to bring the people to heel. The country is a powder keg, and Paris is the fuse. In the midst of the bloody chaos, shadowy people- including the sinister and brutal chief of the Paris police-discover that a young Parisian laundress, Michele Duvallier, is in possession of the proof of a deadly, ancient secret that could shake France's monarchy to its core ... September 1654, Burgundy - 135 years before the Revolution: A good-natured young man, an orphan, is mysteriously imprisoned with grotesque instructions to conceal his identity in such as way as to ensure he is to be forgotten for all time ..."