During his retreat across the endless snow-covered plains of Russia, Napoleon loses almost the whole of his already-decimated Grande Armee. He makes Murat the supreme commander and returns secretly to Paris, where he is given a warm welcome by his young wife Marie-Louise and his little son. But the emperor’s dream of quickly finding another 300,000 soldiers, winning another massive victory after his Russian defeat and then dictating his peace terms to Europe is shattered by the arrival of the Austrian emissary Metternich. Knowing he has the full support of Russia, Prussia and England, Metternich is duly confident – and he tells Napoleon that if he does not accept their peace terms, his fate is sealed!