When the aristocratic Lord of La Tour d'Azyr murders Andre-Louis's best friend, a young man who is politically active during the French Revolution. Andre-Louis vows to take up his friend's cause and avenge his death. He takes refuge as an actor in a traveling troupe, performing under the name Scaramouche. His adventures are pulse-pounding, his heroism is the stuff of legend but it is his destiny that we remember. Scaramouche's fate is the destiny of a nation, the crusade of an age: this is the story of the events that made France a modern nation. The fate of Scaramouche is the fate we all still share.