A syndicate of unscrupulous entrepreneurs plan to exploit a hitherto unsuspected resource: oil beneath the streets of Paris. Their only obstacle is the city itself, with its historic buildings, monuments and intractably bohemian inhabitants, all requiring to be swept away in pursuit of wealth.

With the spirit of art and culture pitted against the remorseless demands of commerce, it falls to a woman who has lived too long in the past to lead the fight for humanity’s future.