Sarraut had previously directed another of Benzoni's best-selling novel series Marianne with Corinne Touzet who starred in the leading role.

During the Parisian riots of 1413, Catherine Legoix, the 13-year-old daughter of a goldsmith living on the Pont-au-Change, tries to save a young Armagnac knight, 16-year old Michel de Montsalvy.

Because Catherine believes Arnaud is to marry Isabelle de Sévérac, she agrees to be the mistress of the powerful Duke who showers her with titles and riches.

After following the success of the Marianne series – which aired on 21 November 1983 – Spade supported the new project Catherine, il suffit d'un amour.

[citation needed] For the male leading role, Sarraut said that Pierre-Marie Escourrou did not correspond at first to the idea of the personality she had in mind – however after his audition she knew that she had found the perfect Arnaud de Montsalvy.

[citation needed] As a special bonus, popular French actors and actresses were engaged to play cameo roles in Catherine.

The cast was joined by Geneviève Casile of the Comédie-Française, Jean-François Poron, Philippe Clay, Pascale Petit and Dora Doll.

Juliette Benzoni's Marianne, une étoile pour Napoléon (six books) was the first of the novel series filmed for French television.

[citation needed] On 19 March 1986, Catherine, il suffit d'un amour was proclaimed "the largest soap opera ever created in France".

[citation needed] In December 2007, the French book sales club France Loisirs released the entire series on DVD with the complete collection consisting of five boxes in ten discs.

The covers of the DVD boxes displayed images from the 1986 television series, but there were no English subtitles, special features, nor extra elements included.