A group of English politicians are driven into a frenzy by the idea that everything important on the continent is decided by "that French bastard". They come up with a plan to kidnap Napoleon in order to put a double in his place - a priest from Eastern Europe. The lure for the emperor is to be the "Mechanical Turk" - a machine that plays chess on its own.

SYNOPSIS:

Minister Lord Robert Stewart Castlereagh staying at a London courtesan's house with a group of Tory party politicians decides to organize an assassination attempt on Napoleon. His spies have discovered a Napoleon double in central Europe . He is a Polish priest who bears a striking resemblance to the emperor and, more importantly, dislikes both the French and the emperor.

If the swap comes to fruition, it will cause chaos in the Grand Army and eventually the fall of the empire.

The 12 English kidnappers are disguised as artists, equipped with fake passports, and set off for French-occupied Prussia, where they travel in the carriages of a theater group. They reach a town. Their plan is to lure the emperor there under the pretext of revealing the secret of the operation of the "Turk", a machine that plays chess on its own.

They are hoping that Napoleon, as a great chess enthusiast, will be reluctant to enter the machine.

To the surprise of the assassins, the double is not at all eager to carry out such an honourable task. In this situation the commander of the English unit orders the kidnapping of his beloved niece and threatens to kill her if the priest will not obey him...