August 17, 1661. As the flames of the celebratory fires die down over the chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte, a new star is rising: the young King Louis XIV is establishing his power. Nicolas Fouquet, secretary of finances and owner of Vaux-le-Vicomte is arrested by d’Artagnan on the orders of Colbert, one of the Louis XIV’s most loyal ministers. While all the artists of the time turn their loyalties from their former patron to the King, poet Jean de La Fontaine remains faithful to Fouquet. Colbert is riled by his obstinacy but the King is unconcerned. Unwisely, the King and Colbert underrate La Fontaine’s fables, failing to ban their publication, but the public is not mistaken and La Fontaine becomes the most published writer of the time.