Sandrine Voillet tells how the city embraced technology (the Lumiere Bros, Louis Renault and the Metro), counter-culture (Picasso, Josephine Baker and Serge Gainsbourg) and immigration to preserve its reputation as lighthouse city to the world. But it was not plain sailing: resistance to modernisation, the Occupation and rioting in the Banlieue tell a darker story and reveal problems unresolved to this day. Along the way, Sandrine meets Picasso's grandson and Jane Birkin.