Andre-Louis Moreau, a recent law school graduate, returns to the home of his godfather, Quintin de Kercadiou, in the small country village of Gavrillac. Moreau’s parentage is unknown, but it is widely believed that Moreau is the illegitimate son of Kercadiou, who has also been raising his own niece Aline. Ambitious to join Versailles high society, Aline is being courted by the powerful and much older Marquis de La Tour d’Azur, considered one of the best swordsmen in France.

Moreau and the Kercadious are visited by a young priest, Philippe de Vilmorin, a devoted friend of Moreau. An idealist afire with the revolutionary spirit starting to sweep France, Vilmorin hopes to persuade La Tour to provide reparations for the family of a peasant killed on the marquis’s property. La Tour, however, tricks Vilmorin into a duel. The priest has no sword-fighting experience, and La Tour kills him.

Distraught and angry, Moreau vows to avenge Vilmorin’s murder and take up his fight for freedom. Hoping to obtain justice for his friend, Moreau travels to the Palais de Justice in the city of Rennes, where his pleading falls on deaf ears. Moreau takes advantage of political gatherings and uses Vilmorin’s arguments to incite the crowds in Rennes and nearby Nantes to take up the revolutionary cause. Moreau is charged with sedition and forced to flee for his life.

Moreau joins the Binet Troupe, an amateurish theatrical company that plays throughout the French countryside. Moreau starts as a stagehand but gradually begins to write new scenarios for the actors and takes on the acting role of Scaramouche, an impudent, sly comedic character. The troupe’s fortunes begin to turn, and the company moves from makeshift outdoor theaters to real theaters to the Théâtre Feydau in Nantes, a provincial Comedie-Francaise, where it receives an enthusiastic reception.

M. Binet, the troupe’s head, resents Moreau’s growing influence and becomes further incensed at the engagement of Moreau to his daughter Climene. While initially infatuated with Moreau, Climene, with the support of her father, instigates an affair with La Tour, hoping the marquis will open doors for her in the great theaters of Paris. Aline, hearing of the affair, breaks off all contact with La Tour.

Nantes is alive with revolutionary fervor, and Moreau (as Scaramouche) starts inserting prorepublican lines into his nightly performances, further enraging Binet. Disgusted with Binet’s political timidity and with Climene’s sordid affair with his sworn enemy, Moreau concocts a scheme to avenge himself against La Tour. Knowing La Tour will be in the audience one night, Moreau creates a new scenario that denounces the marquis as a coward and calls upon the audience to fight for French freedom. A riot breaks out in the theater. Moreau shoots and wounds Binet, and he is forced to flee again.

Moreau escapes to Paris, where he is employed by fencing master Bertrand des Amis as an assistant. By reading fencing treatises and practicing at night, Moreau develops new techniques and ultimately surpasses Amis as a swordsman. When Amis is killed by German troops hired by King Louis XVI, Moreau takes over the academy. Meanwhile, Aline has moved to Paris to stay with Madame de Plougastel, Quintin’s cousin.

Political unrest is sweeping Paris, and the National Assembly—composed of the nobility, the clergy, and the Third Estate (the common people and the bourgeoisie)—has been formed to draft a constitution. Members of the Third Estate, however, are being murdered by La Tour, who has been systematically provoking duels with them. Two members of the National Assembly—President Le Chapelier and Georges Danton—ask Moreau to join the assembly, not only for his...