B. J. Harrison Reads The Scarlet Pimpernel recap

During the French Revolution, a secret band of Englishmen repeatedly rescues aristocrats from the guillotine under the direction of the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel. French agent Chauvelin coerces Marguerite Blakeney into helping identify him by threatening her brother Armand. Marguerite reluctantly passes on a clue, then discovers that the Pimpernel is her own husband, Sir Percy, whose foolish public manner is a disguise. Realizing she has placed him and Armand in danger, she follows Percy to Calais with League member Sir Andrew Ffoulkes. Chauvelin prepares an ambush around a hut where Armand and other fugitives are waiting, but Percy uses disguises, false trails, and secret signals to misdirect the soldiers and get the party aboard his schooner. Marguerite is rescued as well. She and Percy overcome the secrecy and wounded pride that had estranged them, returning to England reconciled, while Chauvelin is left behind after failing to capture either the fugitives or his enemy.

In 1792, revolutionary France's authorities watch the roads and ports for aristocrats trying to flee the guillotine. An unidentified Englishman called the Scarlet Pimpernel repeatedly defeats these precautions, using disguises and a league of loyal gentlemen to carry fugitives across the Channel. At the Fisherman's Rest in Dover, Lord Antony Dewhurst and Sir Andrew Ffoulkes arrive with the Comtesse de Tournay, her children, and their servants after one such rescue. The grateful family can say little about the leader who saved them. Their relief is disturbed by the arrival of Marguerite Blakeney, a famous French actress now married into the English aristocracy. The Comtesse openly rejects her because Marguerite once denounced the Marquis de St. Cyr, an act whose consequences still shadow her reputation.

Sir Percy Blakeney joins Marguerite at Dover, displaying the exaggerated foolishness for which fashionable society knows him. Their marriage is wealthy and admired from outside but emotionally estranged. Marguerite has never fully explained the circumstances behind her denunciation of St. Cyr, while Percy has withdrawn behind courtesy and mockery. In London, the French agent Chauvelin seeks Marguerite's help in identifying the Scarlet Pimpernel. She refuses until he produces a letter implicating her adored brother Armand in activity against the revolutionary government. Chauvelin threatens Armand with arrest and death unless she watches the Pimpernel's associates and supplies information. Marguerite is trapped between loyalty to her brother and revulsion at betraying the unknown rescuer.

At a crowded social gathering, Marguerite observes League members and uses her intelligence to follow their concealed communications. She discovers that a meeting connected with the Pimpernel is planned for one o'clock in a private room. Under Chauvelin's threat against Armand, she passes the clue to him. Sir Andrew is caught searching for a message, and Chauvelin gains information pointing toward an imminent journey to France. Marguerite's success brings no relief: she understands that the man she has exposed may be walking into a fatal trap. Her attempts to reach Percy emotionally also reveal how deeply mistrust has damaged their marriage. Percy prepares to leave, and Marguerite is left uncertain whether he will help Armand or whether her appeal has come too late.

Searching Percy's private room after his departure, Marguerite finds evidence that overturns her view of her husband: the apparently vacant baronet is the Scarlet Pimpernel. His public foolishness has concealed the organizer of the rescue network Chauvelin is hunting. Marguerite realizes that the clue she surrendered has endangered Percy himself, and that his guarded behavior grew partly from knowing she had once sent aristocrats to their deaths without ever trusting him with her explanation. She turns to Sir Andrew, admits what she has done, and asks his help. Together they follow Percy across the Channel. Chauvelin is also traveling toward Calais, armed with the same information and prepared to use Armand and the other waiting fugitives as bait for his newly identified enemy.

Marguerite and Sir Andrew reach Calais and learn that Percy has passed through the Chat Gris inn. Sir Andrew explains the League's signals and the plan to move Armand and the de Tournay men from Père Blanchard's hut to a waiting vessel. Chauvelin arrives with agents and soldiers, turning the inn and coast into a trap. Marguerite must remain hidden because any attempt to warn Percy could expose both of them. Percy appears to have left behind traces that Chauvelin can follow, yet his exact identity and movements remain uncertain to the Frenchmen. As the soldiers prepare to surround the hut and seize anyone responding to the League's signal, Marguerite fears that the information she supplied has allowed Chauvelin to anticipate every stage of the rescue.

Percy is already manipulating the pursuit. Disguised as an old Jewish cart driver, he carries information and draws Chauvelin's contempt without being recognized. False trails and carefully timed signals divide the searchers and preserve a hidden route from Père Blanchard's hut to the shore. Chauvelin surrounds what he believes is the decisive meeting place, but Armand and the de Tournay fugitives reach Percy's schooner and escape. Marguerite, who risks discovery while trying to warn her husband, is brought to safety as well. The abused cart driver is revealed to have been Percy in another disguise, and Chauvelin is left in France with neither his prisoners nor the Pimpernel. Marguerite and Percy finally abandon the secrecy and pride that estranged them. They return to England reconciled, and Sir Andrew and Suzanne can look forward to marriage, while Percy's secret campaign remains intact.

In Calais, Percy stays ahead of Chauvelin through disguise and misdirection. Appearing as an old Jewish cart driver, he draws Chauvelin and the soldiers away and endures their contempt while arranging the fugitives' escape. Chauvelin believes he has trapped the Scarlet Pimpernel at Père Blanchard's hut, but Percy's signals and concealed route allow Armand St. Just and the de Tournay party to reach the waiting schooner. Marguerite, who has followed despite the danger, is also saved. The supposed cart driver is revealed as another of Percy's disguises, leaving Chauvelin defeated and the rescued party beyond French reach. Marguerite and Percy finally speak without the pride and misunderstanding that had divided them. She understands both his hidden courage and the pain her past secrecy caused him, and he accepts the loyalty that brought her after him. They return to England reconciled. Sir Andrew Ffoulkes and Suzanne de Tournay are also free to marry, while the League's leader remains able to continue his rescues.