Hugo, elected to the Assembly with the conservative party, feels his convictions wavering. He cannot turn a blind eye to the misery all around him. A young painter makes headlines by depicting common people in his canvases; Courbet invents realism. Balzac dies, leaving behind a colossal body of work that devoured every last drop of his energy. When Louis Napoléon proclaims himself emperor, Hugo pivots definitively to the left. He has no choice but to flee France, followed by a financially devastated Dumas. They will not be there to bid farewell to their friend Nerval.