Countess Constance de Villeneuve is a recently orphaned heiress living in Nantes, France, who is in love with the son of her father's enemy, Gaspar de Vaudemont. Their fathers killed each other in battle, and Constance feels torn between her love for Gaspar and her duty to her late father. Gaspar and King Henry IV, a friend of her father's, try to reassure Constance that it would be wrong to sacrifice her happiness, but she remains unsure. Unable to make a decision about the marriage, she decide...