 1662. Paris starves while youthful Louis XIV debauches young women and wastes the treasury on war. The captain of his guard, D Artagnan, protects him from conspirators. Louis casts his eye on penniless Christine, the sweetheart of Raoul, a soldier and only son of retired musketeer, Athos. To have Christine, Louis sends Raoul to harm s way on the front. To kill the leader of the conspirators, the king calls in ex-musketeer Aramis, now a priest, accompanied by the Falstaffian Porthos. The queen mother, in widow s weeds, grieves in her chapel, and in the Bastille rots a solitary prisoner, face locked in an iron mask. Perfidy, silence, loyalty, rage, and guilt are set to collide.