On his way to Warsaw, young French historian Napoleon Beranger stops in Walewice, where he meets charming university student Marysia. One of the walls of the manor house is decorated with paintings of emperor Napoleon and Marie Walewska. Napoleon Beranger is surprised at Marysia's uncanny resemblance to Walewska. The plot shifts into a realm of dreams and imagination in which he is the emperor and Marysia is his beloved one.