„The Man in the Iron Mask" is the final episode in the cycle of novels featuring Dumas' celebrated foursome of D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, who first appeared in „The Three Musketeers". Some thirty-five years on, the bonds of comradeship are under strain as they end up on different sides in a power struggle that may undermine the young Louis XIV and change the face of the French monarchy. Unbeknownst to D'Artagnan, Aramis and Porthos plot to remove the inept king and place the king's twin brother on the throne of France. Meanwhile, deep inside the dreaded Bastille, a young twenty-three-year-old prisoner known only as „Philippe" has languished, his face hidden from all, for eight long years. He knows neither his true identity nor the crime that got him there. When the destinies of the king and Phillippe converge, the Three Musketeers and D'Artagnan find themselves caught between conflicting loyalties...