He has withdrawn for a few days into the immense Château de Monte-Cristo near Le Port-Marly, that he is building.

If the books bear Dumas' name, the tiring work undertaken by Maquet is colossal.

Nevertheless, for ten years, Maquet has remained in the great man's shadow and never challenged his supremacy.

When a quarrel breaks out between the two men, after Maquet passes himself off as Dumas in order to seduce Charlotte (Mélanie Thierry), a crucial question presents itself: what is the exact part each man has in the work's success?

The Council of Black Associations of France criticized the decision to cast the white actor Gérard Depardieu to play the part of Dumas, who "was the grandson of a Haitian slave and often referred to himself as a negro".