Coco avant Chanel

The story of Coco Chanel's rise from obscure beginnings to the heights of the fashion world. Several years after leaving the orphanage to which her father never returned for her, Gabrielle Chanel finds herself working in a provincial bar.

She's both a seamstress for the performers and a singer, earning the nickname Coco from the song she sings nightly with her sister. A liaison with Baron Balsan gives her an entrée into French society and a chance to develop her gift for designing increasingly popular hats. When she falls in love with English businessman Arthur Capel further opportunities open up, though life becomes ever more complicated.