When the aristocratic Lord of La Tour d?Azyr murders Andre-Louis?s best friend ? a young man who is politically active during the French Revolution ? Andre-Louis vows to take up his friend?s cause and avenge his death. He takes refuge as an actor in a traveling troupe, performing under the name Scaramouche. His adventures are pulse-pounding, his heroism is the stuff of legend ? but it is his destiny that we remember. Scaramouche?s fate is the destiny of a nation, the crusade of an age: this is the story of the events that made France a modern nation. The fate of Scaramouche is the fate we all still share.