In 1815 a wealthy young Englishman, Richard Beckett, travels to France seeking increased wealth and adventure. Stopping to help a nearly overturned carriage, Richard meets a stunning but oppressed Countess who soon becomes his object of infatuation. Hoping to become her rescuer, he follows her to Paris where he becomes embroiled in a situation beyond his understanding. Staying in the Dragon Volant, an inn with a dubious past, Richard attempts to ignore the stories of three previous tenants who vanished while staying in the very room he occupies.