Chapter 1 begins in New York City during the September of 1939. The first chapter introduces the readers to a 37-year-old Caroline Ferriday, previously a Broadway actress who now volunteers at the French Consulate. Caroline wakes the florist early that morning for a boutonnière made for the French foreign minister. When she arrives at work, Roger Fortier, her boss, tells Caroline that the foreign minister has cancelled and will no longer be speaking at the gala. Caroline is desperate to return to helping the many French citizens in the consulate as well as to raise money for her “French Families Fund, a charity effort through which [she] sent comfort boxes to French orphans overseas” (12). Roger has to rewrite the speech in order not to offend the isolationists; he tells Caroline repeatedly that President Roosevelt selling France American planes should not be mentioned at all costs. Roger also emphasizes that the speech should no longer mention the Rockefellers.

Caroline suggests numerous people to replace the speaker, but Roger discounts every one of them under she mentions the actor Paul Rodierre. Rodierre is a French Broadway actor. Rodierre agrees to become the speaker, although Caroline worries that he will not dress appropriately.