Out of love for an actress, Isabelle, the Baron de Sigognac joins a traveling troop en route to Paris. When an actor dies, he takes over his role: that of Captain Fracasse.

In the first half of the XVIIth century which barely emerges from the baroque ornaments of the previous eras, lived in Gascogne, at the castle of Misère, the young baron of Sigognac, completely ruined. A troop of traveling comedians stopped in the courtyard of the manor, Sigognac offered them hospitality, noticed the beauty of Isabelle who played the ingenuous and conceived the plan to follow Thespis' carriage in his wanderings. The old actor who had hitherto played Matamore, who had just died, leaping and youthful Sigognac was going to replace him advantageously. Under the name of Captain Fracasse, he would both arouse the enthusiasm of the amazed populations and dispute Isabelle with a dangerous rival, the Duke of Vallombreuse. A duel pitted the two men against a cemetery in Poitiers. Everyone recognized the value of the opponent, but, by cunning, Vallombreuse had Isabelle removed to lock him in his castle. It was to count without SigognacFracasse which arises, there again. A new duel began, but a duel to the death. A dramatic revelation turned these adventures upside down: Isabelle was a rich heiress and Vallombreuse's full sister. Once again Sigognac, ex-captain Fracasse was able to marry the beautiful.