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Paris, 1871. Vera, the star attraction of the The Paradise luxury brothel, is about to finally leave the institution to become the live-in mistress of the Baron Du Plessis. However, The Paradise owes money to a dangerous debt collector named Lupin, and its madam, Hortense Gaillac, is willing to resort to absolutely anything to keep her. Meanwhile Rose, a pretty young woman engaged to be married, arrives at The Paradise” in search of her mother and Hortense sees an opportunity to revive the business.

Forced into service at The Paradise, Rose manages to escape before being tracked down by the police. After one of the girls is assaulted, Véra organizes a strike in protest, causing a strain on the brothel’s finances. In response, Hortense decides to sell Rose’s chastity to the highest bidder. As things are heating up, Hortense’s despised brother, Pierre Gaillac, arrives from the colonies to take over the business.

Hortense’s detestable brother Pierre, recently arrived in France, quickly resolves the strike organized by the ladies of The Paradise. But the calm in the storm is only temporary. Now back to work, Rose finds herself struggling to adjust to her new life. Meanwhile, Véra notices that Angéle is wearing jewelry that had previously belonged to her late lover. Suspicious, she goes to the police to report it.

Hortense must defend against the machinations of Pierre, who wants to leverage the Paradise for his own gains. A police investigation is launched in response to Véra’s claims and two girls are arrested. One day, Rose finds a photo of her mother in the house archives, and it is suggested that her mother and Hortense once shared a close personal relationship.

Pierre continues to use The Paradise to serve his own purposes, inviting many wealthy clients on his own accord. Hortense is furious and attempts to spite him by keeping the ladies locked in their rooms. Rose, always in search of information about her mother, presses Hortense, who reveals her mother’s true identity.

Angéle’s fiancée, Brise Caboche, is desperate to obtain her freedom and blackmails Hortense, who has no choice but to ask her brother for money. However, he is not immediately willing to help a sister who shows public disdain for him. Meanwhile, Rose confides in Véra how she plans to escape The Paradise: seducing Pierre.

The residents of the Paradise are forced to cohabitate with a band of Parisian thugs with highly questionable morals. Facing grave financial difficulties, the brothel must also survive the rise to power of a royalist chief commissioner who marks the return of a Moral Order.

Chief Commissioner Torcy, constantly looking to unseat Mosca from his throne at the Paradise, and suspicious of Mosca’s involvement in a major burglary, sends Commissioner Angélus to the brothel to make inquiries. But none of the girls are willing to talk. Meanwhile, Hortense detests Mosca’s presence in her territory and yearns to denounce him.

Torcy has enough on Hortense to put pressure on her and comes to arrest the Queen of the Paradise. In exchange for her freedom, she agrees to work with the Moral Order, Mosca, for his part, takes interest in a group street prostitutes who are all alone after the death of their pimp, especially once he meets a procurer looking for girls to feed a pipeline to Buenos Aires.

Despite being warned by Kertel, who fears retaliation by the Corentin Brothers, Mosca decides to keep the streetwalkers who were formerly under Corentin’s charge « on the pavement. » Valentine, who dreams of independence, is reunited with Rémi, a small-time criminal who lures her into a trap. Véra, meanwhile, decides to reveal everything to her daughter Jeanne.

The prefect reproaches Torcy for the increasing number of prostitutes in the streets and the amount of clean-up to be done immediately. His head is on the chopping block. Not wanting to be outdone by Mosca, the vicious master of the Pigalle streets, known as The Butcher, forces his way into the Paradise, holding the girls hostage.

The prefect demands that Torcy restore calm to the streets of Paris, and suggests he find some common ground with Mosca. Thus Torcy proposes to Mosca that he protect the peace at the Paradise and even take control over the streets. Véra wants Jeanne to believe that she was born out of love and that her father was killed in a duel.