La Tour, a member of a troupe of travelling actors, disgraces himself before King Louis XV of France. To redeem himself he makes a valiant assault on the Austrian army, with whom France is presently at war. La Tour’s reward is to fight a duel with the Duke of Saint Sever, the man who ordered his earlier flogging. During the duel, the two men are surprised by a band of Austrian soldiers. In the ensuing confusion, Saint Sever is killed, stabbed in the back by an ambitious rival. Before he dies, the Duke implores La Tour to find his illegitimate daughter and ensure she inherits his estate. La Tour sets off on his mission, realising that he will be blamed for Saint Sever’s death…