Geneva, September 10, 1898. On one of her many trips, Empress Sissi stops at the Hotel Beau Rivage. However, thanks to a local press informant, her incognito is revealed. So Cesare Monteverdi, editor of the Tribune de Geneve, takes a place on the promenade not far from the hotel to photograph a woman who is afraid of any publicity. He wants to get a snapshot of the life of the most famous empress of his time... but he gets something completely different.