In early 1790s' Paris, as the Revolution gains momentum, young and sheltered Eugenie de Boncoeur finds it difficult to tell friend from foe as she and the royalist brother she relies on become the focus of "le Fantome," the sinister spymaster with a long-held grudge against their family.

A village girl, newly companion to the Master's ward in the days following the Ministration, challenges the motives of the religious leaders of the Divine Beings, the birds.