Elisa Scalzi is a poor but beautiful and determined young lady, who pleasantly takes care of the old Countess Agnese Ristori of Rivombrosa.
The Countess's health gets worse and she keeps expressing her desire to see her son, the charming Count Fabrizio Ristori, who has been enlisted in the French army for the past 10 years.
When the two friends meet, they're ambushed by a group of soldiers, sent by Duke Ottavio Ranieri, an evil and influent aristocrat and Commander of the Guard of his Majesty the King, who wants to steal these precious documents in order to save himself and several other plotting nobles from prison and death penalty.
Fabrizio shocks everyone - his sister Anna and all the other nobles, well aware of the girl's un-aristocratic conditions - when he dares invite Elisa to dance with him at a ball in honour of his return.
The ball is interrupted by Dr. Antonio Ceppi, a former noble man who lost all of his properties and his title after getting married with Lucia, a servant girl.
Lucia is found dead in the lake: she committed suicide because she felt responsible for her husband's social downfall and wanted him to be happy and accepted by the Upper class.
When his friend refuses to do so, Fabrizio goes to Turin to ask the king for Elisa's grace in exchange for the confidential documents.
Count Giulio Drago knows that Fabrizio really cares about Elisa, and he finally decides to go and remove charges from her, telling her he does it because his friend asked him to.
Lucrezia is a beautiful but cruel aristocrat woman and, together with her lover, the duke Ranieri, is one of the conspirators who longs for the king's death.
After Fabrizio's attempts with Lucrezia, Elisa decides to accept Angelo's marriage proposal but still refuses to become the count's mistress.
Fabrizio is hurt by the girl's decision and, feeling like he lost her forever, he decides to leave for Turin with Lucrezia, who offers to help him deliver the documents to the king.
In fact, she's plotting to help her lover steal the documents by misleading the Count Ristori : when he arrives in Turin, Fabrizio is captured.
Meanwhile, Elisa, who's about to get married, remembers Fabrizio's words and his declarations of love, and runs away from the church, leaving a heart-broken Angelo at the altar.
The girl is a little confused by his request, but still grants his wish, and hides the conspirators' list between the endpapers of Countess Agnese Ristori's favourite book.
Meanwhile, Count Ristori is so in love with young Elisa that he even starts thinking about a possible marriage, which would eventually make him lose his title.
His friend Giulio, though, makes him think about Antonio Ceppi's condition and how his marriage ended, and Fabrizio gives up his idea.
Count Giulio Drago asks for Margherita Maffei's hand, a marchioness he's in love with and Elisa's good friend.
Margherita's father, however, is forced to refuse his proposal because, due to a bad investment, he has lost all his properties, and he can't provide an appropriate dowry for his daughter.
During the play performed by a traveling theatrical troupe in Rivombrosa, which all the nobles attend, two of the Duke's men attack Elisa in order to get information about the documents.
Anna, who still cannot accept the love between Fabrizio and Elisa, goes to Turin to ask her friend, the beautiful Duchess Clelia Bussani, to try to seduce her brother.
Along with Amelia they come to the conclusion that the orphan is the result of a dissolute life he led after leaving Lucrezia van Necker 10 years ago.
They organize a special dinner, in which van Necker and other nobles are invited to confirm that Fabrizio is crazy since he wants to marry a servant.
Initially reluctant abbot van Necker agrees to marry them in the condition, however, that the bride and groom must find the two witnesses for the marriage.
The nobles arrive to the wedding ceremony but in the middle of it they all turn away from the young to mark their protest, only Clelia remains in place.
Two of the guests who are heavily drunk leave the main party room wandering through the palace eventually entering Emilia's bedroom.
Fabrizio decides to immediately contact the Marquis Jean Luc Beauville, for this purpose went to his mansion, but didn't found him there.
Elisa testifies before the court to release Fabrizio, but the judges deny her testimony, as the information reaches them that she is a maid in love with his master.
Count Fabrizio Ristori is found guilty and sentenced to be beheaded on 25 September 1769 years on the main square, in Rivombrosa.
When they enter in the courtyard, Elisa points out the open window in the library, and a lighted candle in the kitchen, which raised its alert.
There in the square before the Bussani Palace they play a scene, Angelo "killing" Elisa and take her letters (with the fake list).