The Last Courtesan details the unbridled reality of the demimondaine Claudie de Rochambeau, whose life of notoriety is based on a multitude of fabricated pasts. She spreads a plague of illusions through turn-of-the-century Paris. With the reappearance of her sometimes fictional, sometimes factual biography, she regains her title as Princess of Love. She destroys the lives of many, enslaves others, and focuses on an eager young seamstress in her quest for an heir.