The years just prior to the French Revolution were filled with conflict, although many chose to ignore the signals of the coming storm. The Palais-Royal was the scene of much gaiety and a constant round of pleasures-perfect cover for darker activities such as the murder of a Parisian actress. That same evening, her lover, Antoine Dubois, died in a fatal fall. Was his death a guilt-induced suicide? Soon word of Antoine's death reaches his stepdaughter, Anne Cartier, a young vaudeville actress with the Sadler's Wells company in London. She enlists the aid of the messenger, Colonel Paul de Saint-Martin, and his adjutant, Georges Charpentier, to cross with her to France to investigate. While in Paris, Anne, who is skilled in signing for the deaf, befriends Michou, a deaf, illiterate seamstress with a talent for puppetry. Michou gives Anne an entrée into the Palais-Royal, where her quest broadens to include an amateur theatrical society of dissolute young noblemen and several suspicious officials. Hoping to learn more, Anne agrees to appear at a chateau to act the part of an exotic queen in Indian costume. But when priceless jewelry disappears and its owner, an aged count, is murdered, a venal police inspector threatens to derail Anne's whole project....