Christian Clavier stars as Napoleon Bonaparte in this four-part miniseries, with Isabella Rossellini, John Malkovich and Gérard Depardieu. The drama tells the story of how a meagre soldier rose to become the Emperor of France and one of the most powerful men in the world. As Napoleon languishes on Saint Helena after his defeat by the British, he narrates his life story to a young girl, from his humble Corsican origins, training at a French military college and his initial involvement in the French Revolutionary Wars, to his rise to command the revolutionary armies and his seizure of power in 1804.