This movie tells the story of the early life and rise to fame and fortune of French fashion designer Gabrielle Coco Chanel (Marie-France Pisier), beginning with her upbringing in an orphanage and training as a milliner, but concentrating on her relationship with Etienne de Balsan (Rutger Hauer) and her tempestuous love affair with his friend Boy Capel (Timothy Dalton), and the role the two men played in setting her up as an independent business woman.