On 6 July 1815 Joseph Fouché, head of the provisional government, is invited to a late night supper at the town house of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, former minister of foreign affairs.
This would cause grave difficulty for Fouché who, while Talleyrand was in exile in England, had voted for the execution of the king in 1793 and was heavily involved subsequently in the bloody repression of royalists.
Talleyrand is confident that, if Fouché agrees to join a government under the executed king's brother, he would be granted an amnesty and could regain his previous post as minister of police.
Over champagne followed by cognac, the two reminisce about their difficult childhoods, one an aristocrat of ancient line cursed with a club foot and the other the son of a slave ship captain, how both were initially ordained into the Catholic church, and how they have each found happiness with a younger woman (in Talleyrand's case his niece, the Duchess of Dino).
The film ends with an extract from Chateaubriand's memoirs about the next evening: “Suddenly a door opened: silently there appeared Vice leaning on the arm of Crime, Mr. de Talleyrand helped along by Mr. Fouché.”