The plot is presented in seven acts. Poor seamstress Jeanne Vaubernier works in Madame Labille's milliner's shop. She and student Armand de Foix are a couple, but Jeanne is not averse to flirting with the Spanish ambassador Don Diego. A sword fight breaks out between Armand and Don Diego, in which Don Diego is killed and Armand is arrested. Jeanne becomes the lover of Count Guillaume Dubarry. When Guillaume is on the verge of bankruptcy because of their shared lavish lifestyle, he sends his lover with a petition to the king's minister, the Duke of Choiseul, who, however, refuses to pay the requested money. On her way back, however, Jeanne catches the eye of King
Louis XV himself, who chooses her as his mistress. When Jeanne receives an insulting letter denigrating her relationship with the king, she demands redress, and the king decides to officially introduce her to court. Before doing so, however, she needs a noble title, so she marries Guillaume's brother, Jean Dubarry. As
Countess Dubarry and
mistress to the king, she is now the most powerful woman in France. Armand, who was released from prison at her instigation and given a position as a soldier for the king, is appointed lieutenant in the palace guard at her behest. He witnesses how a group of people protesting against the king's mistress is dispersed at gunpoint and begins to detest the mistress, whom he has never met. He is horrified when he recognises her as his former lover. He leaves the palace and turns to his friend Paillet, a shoemaker with a small child and a sick wife. The family has nothing to eat because bread is becoming increasingly expensive and taxes are rising. A protesting crowd forms, led by Armand. They storm the bakery, and Armand is arrested by the king's soldiers. The Duke of Choiseul makes it clear to Armand that Madame Dubarry has brought him to his misfortune. When Armand says that he would take revenge on her if he were free, Choiseul immediately releases him. A group of rebels forms around the shoemaker Paillet, with Armand initially leading the group. When he receives a visit from the disguised Jeanne, however, he swears not to harm her. The group of rebels goes to the king, but he collapses before their eyes with
smallpox. Following a spiteful remark, Madame Dubarry arranges for Paillet's arrest. The king dies of his illness, and Madame Dubarry is banished from the palace by the new king,
Louis XVI. Paillet's wife dies, and Armand promises her on his deathbed that he will free her husband. The
revolution begins, and the insurgents
storm the Bastille and free Paillet. The king is expelled from the palace, and Madame Dubarry is betrayed by her slave,
Zamor. She is sentenced to death by the
Revolutionary Tribunal, presided over by Armand. Armand, who tries to help her escape, is shot as a traitor and dies in her arms. Madame Dubarry is executed on the scaffold by
guillotine. ==Cast==