From the turbulent and desperate days of the Paris Commune to the great art salons of the world. The story of one woman's passionate pursuit of her art in defiance of the cloistering limits of her time.
Marie Desmoulins is born in Paris in 1871. After the assassination of her artist father following the suppression of the Commune in May that year, she and her mother Eugenie and older sister Aline escape to Australia.
Eugenie remarries and Marie and Aline settle into their new lives. Both show a talent for art and are encouraged in this by their mother and stepfather. But their talent goes beyond making ladylike "pretty pictures" and becomes a threat to their position in society - there is no such thing as a professional lady artist.
Aline succumbs to the pressure and marries respectably. Marie, however, determines to make her own way, including causing a scandal by marrying an impoverished fellow artist, Charles Mallard.
Eventually Marie becomes the toast of Paris, and a celebrity on her return to Australia, but it has been a struggle hard won, full of passion, tears and finally, triumph . . .
