A diverse Parisian audience bustles with excitement over the play they have come to see while some in the crowd anticipate the arrival of a particularly notable cadet, Cyrano de Bergerac—a man celebrated for his unrivaled sword, his matchless wit, and, alas, his protuberant nose. Cyrano’s coming coincides with the entrance of Montfleury, a pompous actor whom Cyrano has forbidden to perform. Never one to recoil from conflict, Cyrano clears the theater with his usual panache. But as the night is young and he is restless, Cyrano will fight more battles before daybreak.The next morning, wounded and weary, Cyrano meets with his distant cousin Roxane, with whom he is helplessly in love. But since he believes himself and his nose to be unlovable, he can only listen as Roxane professes her affection for Christian, a new cadet in Cyrano’s regiment. She solicits Cyrano’s help in protecting the young soldier, and Cyrano agrees.Meanwhile, Christian has also fallen in love with the beautiful and intellectual Roxane, but fears he cannot woo her since he himself is not especially clever. Out of love for Roxane, Cyrano suggests a ruse to combine their talents—his wit and Christian’s looks—into one perfect paramour. Roxane falls deeply in love with Cyrano’s powerful words and consents to marry the tongue-tied Christian even as Cyrano fends off a less honorable suitor, the loathsome Count de Guiche. A thwarted and enraged de Guiche sends Cyrano and Christian’s regiment into the thick of the fighting. But undeterred by danger and drawn by love, Roxane risks the battle’s front line. What happens next changes everything.