In Marseilles, France in 1794, Desiree Clary, a young millinery clerk, becomes infatuated with Napoleon Bonaparte, but winds up wedding celebration Genaral Jean-Baptiste Berandotte, an aid to Napoleon that later on joins the forces that bring about the Emperor's downfall. Josephine Beauharnais, a life courtesan marries Napoleon and also becomes Empress of France, yet is then cast aside by her partner when she verifies unable to produce a successor to the throne.