In the darkening years of the 1930s, beautiful Madame Lambert meets American diplomat Dexter Jones at the Quai d’Orsay. She works on the staff of French Premier Pierre Laval. Dedicated to her work, the austere widow resists romance while becoming increasingly intrigued with the charming diplomat as he escorts her to political and literary salons across the vibrant Left Bank cultural scene. Romance ripens into enduring commitment against a backdrop of momentous historical events as the French government attempts to contain the Ethiopian crisis at the League of Nations while countering the rising Nazi threat to remilitarize the German Rhineland.

Madame Lambert witnesses first-hand the British-French diplomatic meetings between Premier Laval and British foreign secretary Sir Samuel Hoare that collapse in controversy over ending the Italo-Ethiopian war. Shortly afterwards, she is in the room when the French government bogs down with indecision over responding to Hitler’s march into the Rhineland, the key to preserving France’s alliances with its East European allies.

Cameo appearances by Colonel Charles DeGaulle, André Malraux, Sylvia Beach, Adrienne Monnier, André Chamson, and journalists Genevieve Tabouis and Pertinax.