Setting out the story of an ambassador's secretary crowned king of Poland in 1764, this book tells of his social and artistic transformation of the country and the destruction of his life's work and forced abdication after Poland's invasion and partition by neighbours alarmed at this country's liberty. The King was a great believer in art and education, and finding himself blocked politically by Catherine the Great of Russia, he put his energies into a social and artistic regeneration, transforming the mood of his country and bringing it to a new phase of reform and independence, culminating in passing of the constitution in 1791. Poland's alarmed neighbours, however, invaded and partitioned it, and Stanislaw was obliged to watch the destruction of his life's work, and forced to abdicate, a broken and disillusioned man.