The outlook is not bright: Sir Robert Merivel, a physician, bon vivant, and confidant of Charles II, has seen better days. Was he not the man who made the King of England laugh? Should he now, at just 57 years old, retire and mope on his estate? Merivel has no intention of doing so and heads to France, to the Sun King in his newly built marvel, Versailles. However, instead of being received with pomp and ceremony and even rising to the position of personal physician to Louis XIV, he finds himself sharing a chamber pot with a Dutch clockmaker in the servants' quarters! When he meets the charming Louise de Flamanville, he believes in a second spring—only for it to be abruptly threatened when he receives a summons from the English court: Sir Merivel is to hurry to the bedside of Charles II...