Lucien de Rubempré, a young, lower-class poet, leaves his family's printing house for Paris. Soon, he learns the dark side of the arts business as he tries to stay true to his dreams.

France, 1820s. A young poet, Lucien de Rubempre, moves to Paris with the aim of being published. After a few menial jobs he finds work as a journalist, an art critic. Here he sees the corruption and influence of the press and how to play their game.—grantss

In 1820s France, 20-year-old poet Lucien de Rubempré (Benjamin Voisin) travels from his provincial home in Angoulême to Paris after a contentious affair with a local society lady. He is sensitive, idealistic, handsome and determined to force the literary world to take notice. Contrary to his expectations, however, he discovers that he must make ends meet by writing scurrilous theater reviews and ends up beholden to the world of low-brow journalism. At the behest of his crass boss, Étienne Lousteau (Vincent Lacoste), Lucien succumbs entirely to bribery and cronyism, achieving wealth and standing only at the cost of his artistic integrity and former friendships. In a last attempt to free himself from the all-consuming filth he is undone by his greatest weakness, his desire to transcend his low origins and illegitimate birth by buying a title of nobility. This too proves illusory and finally he is defeated and socially destroyed by the prevailing "fake news" cycle, returning home to defeat and obscurity.