The daughter of a bastard branch of French royalty, Jeanne de La Motte-Valois descends like a whirlwind on 1780s Paris. Jeanne rises by luck and pluck from the depths of childhood beggary to the pinnacle of court and Paris society, and cannot rest until she amasses the riches needed to support a lifestyle befitting a princess. From the glittering intricacies of the royal court to the dreaded cells of the Bastille, the La Motte woman concocts a masterful swindle that will rock the French throne and drag Marie Antoinette’s name into the gutter.