The Girl at the Eiffel Tower.It is the first day of the Paris World Exposition in 1889. 14-year-old Jean Rocque Raltique, a brilliant young inventor, arrives at the fair to participate in a flying contest with his uncle. He is distracted, however, when he notices a 14-year-old mysterious dark-skinned girl pass by on a bicycle. Jean follows the girl, known as Nadia, to the Eiffel Tower and tries to make friends with her, but she acts cold and aloof. Just then, three bandits -- 28-year-old Grandis Granva, a fiery-tempered woman and her two 27-year-old sidekicks, vain, arrogant Sanson, and pudgy, nerdy Hanson -- appear and attempt to kidnap Nadia, but she escapes. Jean later finds Nadia performing at a circus across town and is instantly smitten with her performance. At the end of the show, the Grandis gang appear and take Nadia from her (unsympathetic) ringmaster through bribery and pretending to be her sister. After a wild chase, Jean rescues Nadia and earns her trust. Learning she has no place to go, he decides to take his new friend to his home in Le Havre.