His wife having recently died, Thomas Jefferson accepts the post of United States ambassador to pre-revolutionary France, though he finds it difficult to adjust to life in a country where the aristocracy subjugates an increasingly restless peasantry. In Paris, he becomes smitten with cultured artist Maria Cosway, but, when his daughter visits from Virginia accompanied by her attractive slave, Sally Hemings, Jefferson's attentions are diverted.
Nick Nolte
as Thomas Jefferson
Greta Scacchi
as Maria Cosway
Thandiwe Newton
as Sally Hemings
Gwyneth Paltrow
as Patsy Jefferson
Jean-Pierre Aumont
as D'Hancarville
Simon Callow
as Richard Cosway
Seth Gilliam
as James Hemings
James Earl Jones
as Madison Hemings
Michael Lonsdale
as Louis XVI
Nancy Marchand
as Madame Abbesse
Charlotte de Turckheim
as Marie Antoinette
Lambert Wilson
as Marquis de Lafayette
