A biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte, tracing the Corsican's career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign) to his flight from Corsica, through the French Revolution (where a real storm is intercut with a political storm) and the Terror, culminating in his triumphant invasion of Italy in 1797.
When bored American billionaire Charles Vanel is amused by the happiness of poor railroad man Nicolas Koline, he offers him a wager: if Koline and his family can spend 20,000 francs a day (about $11,000 in current American money) for a year, then he'll give him a nice pension. The rest of the movie is about the poor man and his family's efforts to win the bet.
Unkwown to the vast majority, Count Patrice is the crown prince of Simenia. One day he sails for the East on his yacht "Bengal" in the company of Christiane, a beautiful princess, in love with him. Chance has it that Patrice sets Anar, an Oriental beauty, free from the harem where she is held captive. Love is born between the two young people, which infuriates Christiane. Mad with jealousy, the vexed woman sets about preventing Patrice and Anar from marrying... by all means fair or foul!
