A lad jousting with his tutor is kidnaped and carried to the Bastille where his head is locked in an iron mask. Jump ten years: Musketeers return from war in Morocco to find Paris starving while Louis XIV and his retinue idle at Duke Fouquet's estate. Louis is enamored with his host's virginal daughter, Valliere, herself in love with Athos. The queen mother calls the Jesuit Aramis to her deathbed to confess that Louis has a twin, "a second born, he was first conceived, the oldest and true heir," the man in the iron mask. Aramis secures his release and hides him while Porthos and Athos school him for his destiny. D'Artagnan remains loyal to Louis: love, schemes and politics entwine. Written by