In Marseilles, France in 1794, Desiree Clary, a young millinery clerk, ends up being fixated with Napoleon Bonaparte, yet end up wedding event Genaral Jean-Baptiste Berandotte, an aid to Napoleon that later on joins the forces that produce the Emperor's downfall. Josephine Beauharnais, a life courtesan marries Napoleon and ends up being Empress of France, yet is after that discarded by her partner when she proves not able to create a beneficiary to the throne.