The emperor has abdicated. Fouché, determined to remain minister, instructs Vidocq to bring the king's jewels back to Paris. Vidocq leaves for Belgium. Rejected, threatened with death, pursued, he takes refuge with the Baroness, but she drives him away and tries once again to kill him. He has no choice but to steal the jewels himself, hijacking the van carrying them from Ghent to Paris. But the trunk contains nothing but pebbles. The Baroness, who had been entrusted by the King with the sale of the jewels, had kept them for herself. Vidocq sets out to find the jewels and return them to the king. But he is arrested in Antwerp and is about to be put to the sword...