Published in 1874, three years after the bloody upheaval of the Paris Commune that resulted out of popular reaction to Napoleon III's failure to win the Franco-Prussian War, the novel concerns the Revolt in the Vendée and Chouannerie – the counter-revolutionary uprisings in 1793 during the French Revolution.

In the former Duchy of Brittany during the Royalist insurrection of the Chouannerie, a troop of "Blues" (soldiers of the French Revolutionary Army) encounter in the bocage Michelle Fléchard, a peasant woman, and her three young children, who are fleeing from the conflict.

When the same sailor risks his life to secure the cannon and save their ship, Lantenac awards the man a medal for his bravery and then executes him (without trial) for failing in his duty.

He is also told to keep an eye on Gauvain, the commander of the Republican troops there, who is related to Lantenac and thought to be too lenient to rebels.

He manages to break through the defences and kill several rebels, but with Halmalo's aid, Lantenac and a few survivors escape through a secret passage after setting fire to the building.

He visits him in prison, where Lantenac expresses his vision of French culture ordered by social hierarchy, deference, and duty.

Visited by Cimourdain in prison, Gauvain outlines his own vision of a future society with minimal government, no taxes, technological progress and sexual equality.

While Hugo clearly favours the revolutionaries in several comments by the omniscient narrator[citation needed], neither side is depicted as opportunistic, mercenary or cynical.

Republicans and Royalists are depicted as idealistic, high-minded, completely devoted to their antagonistic causes and ready to perform cruel and ruthless acts perceived as necessary in the ongoing titanic struggle.

Joseph Stalin read Ninety-Three as a young seminarian in Georgia and the character of Cimourdain, a former priest, "made a deep impression" on him.

[3] Herbert Butterfield expressed admiration for Ninety-Three in his essay The Historical Novel (1924), describing the book as "a striking example of the epic of national freedom".

[7] Its influence can be especially discernible in the passages describing the Russian Civil War in Rand's We the Living—where, uncharacteristically for this staunchly anti-Communist writer, "Reds" as well as "Whites" are recognized for the sincerity of their convictions and presented as courageous and heroic.