The film opens with the calling of the Estates General of 1789, which proves to be a disaster as many members of the Third Estate had swore an oath on June 20, 1789. Many orators roused the people to demand for change. The situation only worsens after King Louis XVI dismisses and banishes finance minister Jacques Necker, a friend and popular figure of the people. On July 14, 1789, revolutionaries gather at the Bastille prison, seeking weapons and gunpowder for their revolutionary cause. A battle ensues between Revolutionary forces and the prison's garrison, headed by the Marquis de Launay, where the Revolutionaries emerge victorious. Louis XVI arrives at Paris while the Marquis de Lafayette reads the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen out to the National Assembly. Soon after, Georges Danton rallies the people to march on Versailles via newspaper. As a result, thousands of women march on Versailles, demanding bread. The women storm the palace, overpowering the guards but stopping short of the King and Queen, protected by guards and soldiers. Louis XVI appears on the balcony to a riotous crowd, followed by his wife, Marie Antoinette. As the mob prepares to shoot her, she kneels down, pleading forgiveness, and the mob relents.