Exiled Napoleon (Sir Ian Holm) and his aides have come up with a cunning plan to get him from exile back into the heart of Paris where he can resurrect his imperial ambitions and restore his country to greatness. They have procured the services of an erstwhile deck hand who is the doppelgänger of the emperor and who has agreed to swap places. Carefully smuggled back to the mainland, the impoverished traveller has to make his own way to the city and with very few that he can trust to be loyal, he befriends the recently widowed “Nicole” (Iben Hjejle) and her young son “Gerard” (Tom Watson). Her ...