France, 1803: eleven years after the Revolution, a royalist underground is led by a new "Scarlet Pimpernel", the "Purple Mask" (Tony Curtis), who rescues nobles in distress and kidnaps Napoleon Bonaparte's (Robert Cornthwaite's) officials for ransom, aided by the spy services of a group of lovely models headed by Laurette de Latour (Colleen Miller), Duc de Latour's (Paul Cavanagh's) daughter. But even she doesn't know the Purple Mask's real identity as foppish dancing master Rene de Traviere.