Édith Jéhanne

Robert de Houdan is indecisiveness itself. He keeps hesitating, shilly-shallying and never reach any decision in any way. So much so that he finds himself on the verge of ruin and falls prey to Boucherot, a greedy loan-shark who puts pressure on him to marry Yvonne Herbelier. Boucherot is assisted in his undertaking by baroness Pépin, a typical matchmaker. But Robert, who does not know the young lady, shies away from her.

In the Crimea, the Reds and the Whites aren't done fighting, and Jeanne discovers that the man she loves is a Bolshevik (when he kills her father). Penniless, she returns to Paris where she works for her uncle. Soon after, her lover Andreas is in France to organize the sailors in Toulon. So also is a thief, traitor, and libertine, Khalibiev, who wants to seduce Jeanne. His schemes, Jeanne and Andreas's naivete, and a lost diamond bring the lovers to the brink of tragedy.

In 1776, an inventor conceals a Polish nobleman in his chess-playing automaton, a machine whose fame leads it to the court of the Russian empress.

A charming little couple is watched by the misfortune that hides under the disturbing and enigmatic features of a femme fatale.