Three years after the storming of the Bastille, the monarchy of King Louis and Marie Antoinette has been dismantled and a new nation, for the people, is rising up. Jean-Luc, a young lawyer, moves his wife, Marie, and their infant son from their comfortable life in Marseilles to Paris, inspired by a sense of duty to contribute to the new order. André, the son of a former wealthy Duke, sheds his privileged upbringing to fight in the unified French Army with his brother, Remy. Sophie, a descendant of a wealthy aristocratic family and niece of a militant uncle, embarks on her own fight for independence. But underneath the glimmer of hope and freedom the demand for justice, aided by the new invention of the guillotine, breeds instability, creates enemies out of compatriots, and fuels a constant rush of blood in the streets.