The guillotine executes hundreds of French aristocrats daily in Paris as revolutionary crowds cheer for blood.

Sergeant Bibot is tricked at the Paris city gate by the Scarlet Pimpernel disguised as an old woman with a plague-stricken passenger.

The Comtesse de Tournay and her two children arrive safely at The Fisherman's Rest inn, rescued from revolutionary France.

Sir Percy Blakeney and his wife Marguerite arrive by grand carriage at The Fisherman's Rest inn in Dover.

Chauvelin and his men ambush Lord Antony Dewhurst and Sir Andrew Ffoulkes at The Fisherman's Rest and seize their papers.

Chauvelin whispers to Marguerite at the opera that her brother Armand will be executed unless she identifies the Scarlet Pimpernel.

At Lord Grenville's ball, Marguerite tricks Sir Andrew into letting her glimpse a secret note from the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Marguerite tells Chauvelin about the note, revealing that the Scarlet Pimpernel plans to meet Andrew in the supper room late that night.

Chauvelin waits in the supper room pretending to sleep but finds only Sir Percy snoring on a sofa; no one else arrives.

Marguerite finds a ring embossed with a pimpernel flower on Percy's study floor and realizes her husband is the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Marguerite persuades Sir Andrew to sail with her to France to find and warn Percy before Chauvelin can capture him.

Percy enters the Chat Gris inn, sits casually with Chauvelin, secretly fills his snuffbox with pepper, and escapes during the violent sneezing fit.

Marguerite screams a warning to those inside the coastal hut and pounds on the door to alert her husband.

Soldiers storm the coastal hut but find it empty; a cannon from the Day Dream signals the refugees are safely aboard.

Percy reveals he is the disguised Rosenbaum, tells Marguerite he knew of her dilemma all along, and absolves her of blame.

The story begins in Paris during the bloody Reign of Terror, where the Scarlet Pimpernel defies French revolutionaries by smuggling aristocrats to safety in England. The mysterious hero's rescues bring a group of French nobles to The Fisherman's Rest inn in Dover, where his English accomplices fall into the hands of the ruthless French spy Chauvelin. Chauvelin uses Marguerite Blakeney's love for her endangered brother as leverage, forcing her to betray the Pimpernel's planned movements. Desperate to undo her betrayal once she discovers the Pimpernel is her own husband Sir Percy, Marguerite races to France to warn him. Percy, always one step ahead, confronts Chauvelin directly and outwits him before engineering a daring escape for the refugees and for Marguerite herself. The adventure ends with the refugees safely aboard Percy's yacht, Marguerite forgiven, and Chauvelin humiliated and defeated.

The Scarlet Pimpernel's rescue mission and the race to stop Chauvelin.

Mr. Jellyband and Mr. Hempseed debate heatedly whether England should intervene to stop the bloody revolution across the Channel.

Lord Antony Dewhurst arrives at The Fisherman's Rest in high spirits and announces that French refugees will arrive shortly.

Sir Andrew tells the Comtesse de Tournay that the League of twenty men answers only to their leader and exists to rescue the innocent.

The Comtesse de Tournay refuses to acknowledge Marguerite at the inn; Suzanne breaks from her mother to give Marguerite a quick embrace.

The Vicomte de Tournay challenges Percy to a duel to defend his mother's honor; Percy cheerfully misunderstands every attempt at confrontation.

Marguerite meets briefly with her brother Armand at the inn and tearfully begs him to stay safe in France.

The Prince of Wales arrives at Lord Grenville's ball with the Blakeneys; the assembled crowd openly admires and discusses the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Alone with a Cabinet Minister after supper, Marguerite silently wrestles with the impossible choice between saving Armand and protecting the Pimpernel.

Percy drives Marguerite home to their Richmond mansion after the ball while she privately regrets what she has done.

Marguerite and Sir Andrew are stranded overnight at The Fisherman's Rest by a storm, knowing Chauvelin is also stuck in Dover.

Marguerite and Sir Andrew sail across the Channel to Calais on the Foam Crest and arrive at the grimy Chat Gris inn.

Sir Andrew settles Marguerite safely in the attic loft of the Chat Gris and leaves alone to search the town for Percy.

Chauvelin arrives at the Chat Gris disguised as a priest and receives a deployment report from his lieutenant Desgas.

Chauvelin seizes Marguerite near the coastal hut and threatens to have Armand shot if she makes any sound of warning.

Sir Andrew Ffoulkes marries Suzanne de Tournay at a London wedding attended by the cream of English society.

The story opens at The Fisherman's Rest inn in Dover, where English innkeepers debate the revolution and League members quietly celebrate their latest rescue of French nobility. Social tensions erupt when Percy and Marguerite Blakeney arrive and the Comtesse de Tournay publicly snubs Marguerite for her past role in a nobleman's death. London's glittering world — the Grenville ball and the prince's supper — forms the backdrop for Marguerite's agonizing private choices about her brother and her husband. When she realizes what she has done, she crosses the Channel with Sir Andrew, enduring a stormy delay in Dover before landing in the dark and hostile streets of Calais. In France, Chauvelin closes his trap, captures Marguerite near the coastal hut, and nearly succeeds in his hunt for the Pimpernel. The saga ends warmly with Andrew and Suzanne's wedding and the full restoration of the Blakeneys' marriage.

Life at the inn, the ball, and the tense journey to Calais.

Notes signed with a small pimpernel flower sketch appear mysteriously in the pockets of French officials, announcing each aristocratic escape.

The Comtesse de Tournay reveals at dinner that Marguerite St Just was responsible for the arrest and execution of the Marquis de St Cyr.

Chauvelin reveals himself as a French spy to Marguerite on the Dover cliffs and asks her to identify the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Chauvelin reads the papers seized from the captured Englishmen and discovers that Armand St Just works with the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Marguerite watches the Day Dream carry Armand toward France and feels the full weight of her loneliness in the broken marriage.

Only Sir Andrew notices Percy's fleeting look of anguish as Marguerite leaves The Fisherman's Rest without acknowledging her husband.

Marguerite confronts Percy at their Richmond estate and demands to know what happened to the love that once united them.

Percy takes Marguerite's hand and kisses it tenderly at dawn before riding away, briefly allowing his hidden love to show.

Marguerite slips into Percy's unlocked study and discovers detailed maps of Paris and the northern coast of France hanging on the wall.

Suzanne casually mentions that the Scarlet Pimpernel sailed for Calais that morning; Marguerite suddenly understands that Percy is the Pimpernel.

Marguerite receives Armand's intercepted letter confirming that Chauvelin is already pursuing Percy toward France.

French cavalry reports to Chauvelin that a fire burns in a remote coastal hut and two men have been seen entering it.

Chauvelin pays the stooped old Jewish cart driver Rosenbaum to guide him to the Pimpernel's coastal rendezvous point.

After the refugees escape by rowboat, Chauvelin orders Rosenbaum beaten in frustration and leaves him bound on the hillside.

Percy carries an exhausted Marguerite along the French cliffs to a waiting longboat as they whisper sweetly and escape together.

From the very first mysterious notes found in French officials' pockets, The Scarlet Pimpernel is a story built on hidden identities and slowly uncovered truths. Marguerite's past — her accidental role in the Marquis de St Cyr's execution — casts a long shadow over her marriage long before Chauvelin forces her into an impossible dilemma. Her husband's true feelings are buried beneath a mask of foppery, glimpsed only in small painful moments such as a suppressed look of anguish or a tenderly kissed hand before dawn. Marguerite's discovery of Percy's real identity transforms her from a passive victim of circumstance into an active, courageous woman willing to risk her life to repair what she has broken. In France, every development turns on information revealed or concealed — false leads, clever disguises, and a confession of mutual mistrust that finally allows the marriage to heal. The story closes not with swords but with honesty, as Percy admits his failure to trust his wife and carries her to safety.