 10 August 1792, the day of the capture of the Tuileries during the French Revolution"

There is a squabble in the laundry of Caterina Hubscher, a beautiful Alsacian girl, a very free and easy-mannered woman whom everyone calls "Madame Sans-Gêne" (Madame Carefree).One of her customers is Fouché (later Minister of Police under Napoleon), whom Caterina dislikes; another, a quiet young officer who lives nearby, is Napoleon himself.As Caterina is about to close her laundry, a wounded Austrian officer arrives and asks for her help, Caterina hides him in her room.