Three extraneous Danish court officials: a professional loud mouth (the buttonholer), a kiss ass for hire (the lickspittle), and a successful dastard (the go-between) are tossed out of court just as Denmark’s merchant fleet becomes of strategic importance in the Napoleonic war. The three men journey to France and meet Napoleon’s top lickspittle, buttonholer, and go-between, their female counterparts. Plots abound, flying machines are destroyed, and the head of Marie Antoinette is discovered during the madcap struggle to save Copenhagen from British howitzers. The main characters speak in rhyming Alexandrine verse, while a host of supporting characters converse in sestinas, haiku, free verse, limericks, and sonnets. In a rhyming, metered world, the offbeat rules.