François Vidocq has been sentenced to eight years' hard labor for a crime he didn't commit. Escaped with the help of his faithful friends Desfossés and Fil de fer, the convict is pursued by his lifelong enemy: the policeman Flambart. Between scams and disguises, Vidocq initially leads an undercover life in 19th-century Paris. Eventually, the two men team up to fight criminals... And Vidocq succumbs to Annette's charms.
Episodes
François Vidocq, the eternal escapee, has been captured and is on his way to the Toulon penal colony. But he escapes with his comrades, the acrobat and Henri Desfossés. When the alarm is raised, Vidocq hides out with a young widow, but she turns him in. Finding the acrobat dying, he asks Vidocq to use his death to escape again. But Inspector Flambart is hot on his trail...
Back in Paris and on the run from the police, Vidocq takes refuge in a jewelry shop that turns out to belong to Jacquelin, Vidocq's former army comrade. Jacquelin offers to hire Vidocq as a clerk, and Vidocq accepts - after meeting Jacquelin's neighbor Mademoiselle Annette. While he plays the poet for Annette and foils attempted robberies at the jewelry store, the Parisian underworld begins to get suspicious...
Vidocq is looking for Herbaux and Grouard, the two men who once sentenced him to the penal colony. He tells Annette the story: as a soldier, he was in love with a woman named Francine, who cheated on him. Sentenced to three months in prison for beating up one of his lovers, Herbaux and Grouard borrowed his cell to do some writing. Their forgery discovered, they accused Vidocq, who was convicted. But Vidocq was unaware of Grouard's dealings with the police and Herbaux's latest conviction...
Imprisoned at Bicêtre, Vidocq is reunited with his comrade Henri Desfossés. Wounded in the leg so as not to leave with the chain, Vidocq reveals to Desfossés that there is a tunnel dug into the courtyard of the madhouse. But not only are the madmen more dangerous than the guards, the coachman hired by Annette wants to be paid immediately, and Vidocq must return to prison to retrieve the money confiscated from him...
Fleeing from Inspector Flambart, Vidocq separates from Annette and Desfossés and manages to surprise the policeman. But the next village had asked for help from the Parisian police, and Vidocq, armed with Flambart's papers, is drawn into a criminal investigation: the Baron de Flocheron has been stabbed in the night, and Justine, the servant whose lover he was, is suspected. But Vidocq immediately finds something fishy: the Baron was already dead when he was stabbed. Can he find the real culprit before the real Inspector Flambart manages to talk to the mayor ?
Vidocq has obtained papers for himself and Desfossés, and with Annette they head north to join a traveling theater. Stopped en route, they learn only too late that the two men whose names they have borrowed are deserters. It's their good fortune to be handed over to the “rolling army”, a group of thugs who pretend to be soldiers to profit from looting. But Flambart is still on Vidocq's tail, and what's more, after the retreat of the real army, the rolling army has to fight for the first time...
Annette has joined the traveling theater troupe, as planned, and must now get Vidocq and Desfossés out of prison. The prison warden is proud of his new alarm bell. Just this one is part of Vidocq's escape plan, but first it takes all Annette's skill to get him through a file. But then again, Inspector Flambart is there, and much more adept at figuring out what happened...
Vidocq and Desfossés have joined the privateers, but Vidocq wants to return to land. Armed with the papers of a dead soldier, he disembarked at Boulogne and joined the army. Too late, he learns that the dead soldier belonged to the Olympiens, a royalist secret society. After refusing to kill a traitor for them, Vidocq realizes that he is in danger. Knowing that the police will intercept the mail, he writes to Annette. Will Flambart arrive in time to save Vidocq and foil the plot ?
During their escape, Vidocq and Annette encounter the chain gang of northern convicts on their way to Bicêtre. They hide out at the next inn, but unfortunately it's a chain station right there. Vidocq is recognized both by an associate of the innkeeper and by one of the convicts. For the former, there's the reward, and among the latter, there's one who has an open account with Vidocq...
Looking at the wedding rings with Annette, Vidocq has to run away again. A few days later, a woman brings news of him to Annette - this woman is Louise Vidocq. When Vidocq realizes that his first wife neglected to also tell Annette that she had filed for divorce while he was in the bagne, he goes to see Annette, but she's gone. So Vidocq decides to get himself arrested to get her back. But he has to learn that the one time he wants to be arrested, it turns out to be much more difficult than he thought. And what's more, there's no news of Annette...
On their honeymoon in the north at Annette's godfather's, two counterfeiters blackmail Vidocq: either he helps them kill the English messenger with whom they're going to exchange counterfeit English bills for counterfeit French ones, or they denounce him. What's more, Flambart is in the area and Annette's godfather, who believes Vidocq is being pursued as a royalist conspirator, must not learn the truth...
Vidocq and Annette return to Paris, where they plan to hide out with Gibassier, Vidocq's former comrade and blackmailer. But when they arrive, Gibassier is dead and Vidocq is arrested for his murder. He escapes and returns several times to M. Henry, chief of the Paris police, to obtain permission to find the real culprit himself. Disguised as Gibassier, he waits for the murderer to return to finish the job...
It's only been a few months since Vidocq began working for the police, complaints from jealous officers are multiplying and Mr. Henry is ready to dispense with his services. One last chance comes up for Vidocq: the police museum has been broken into, and the Emperor's hat and the black diamond have disappeared. Vidocq has just a few days to find these objects before the Emperor himself inaugurates the museum...
