Once again restored to power in France, the House of Bourbon and their supporters work to reverse the enduring changes brought about by the revolution. Lafayette rallies liberals to oppose this reactionary agenda, but when legal methods of opposition prove ineffective, he is driven to increasingly seditious actions.

Regaining his freedom after five years in prison, Lafayette emerges into a world irrevocably changed by the revolution he helped put into motion. Now considered a political liability by the governments of both France and the United States, and with war continuing to rage across Europe, his future appeared more uncertain than ever.

Arrested by the Austrians after escaping political persecution in France, Lafayette is locked away in a dungeon for refusing to betray his ideals. While his family and friends, scattered across the world, do what they can to aid him, it becomes increasingly clear as time went on that his salvation would come from the same nation that had once scorned him.

Lafayette’s persistent efforts to save the French monarchy end in failure when Louis XVI is overthrown once and for all in August 1792. With his avowed enemies, the Jacobins, now in power and accusing him of betraying the revolution, the general is faced with the most difficult decision of his life. 

The king’s ill-fated attempt to flee the country causes anti-monarchist protests to break out in Paris, which Lafayette responds to with a heavy hand. After the subsequent massacre at the Champ de Mars leaves his reputation in tatters, the general attempts to make his exit from the political stage.

Lafayette stages a remarkable display of patriotism at a festival celebrating the one year anniversary of the revolution’s beginning. Having reached the ‘zenith of his influence,’ his political opponents on both the left and right grow increasingly wary of his ambition.

Famine conditions in Paris and fears of counter-revolution prompt thousands of enraged civilians to march on Versailles. With the safety of the royal family threatened, Lafayette is compelled to intervene to avert a catastrophe.

As the early stages of the French Revolution continue to unfold on the streets of Paris, Lafayette’s new role as the commander of the National Guard forces him to maintain a delicate balancing act between the preservation of revolutionary liberty and the restoration of public order.