Book excerpt: During 1963, as the United States was yielding to the second British invasion, master painter Marc Chagall exhibited his work La Revolution in Europe, demonstrating his unique genius, a blending Russian Expressionism with French Cubist influences. Though it is almost a certainty that the chivalrous artist had no intention that fateful morning of rescuing a lady in distress on the boardwalk of Nice, their serendipitous affair would inspire him to create, perhaps, his most colorful masterpiece of all La Reine du Carnival de Nice. Fast-forward to the mid-1990's. The Berlin Wall had long since fallen, Marc Chagall had died, his painting was worth a fortune, and it was about to become the center of an odyssey, a twisting and turning saga where a murder results in freedom from a callous prison, an enchanted journey of champagne dreams and white lightning nightmares of reality, a magnetic story that would involve an international cast of interesting, sympathetic, and sinister characters. None of them seemed to know all the facts surrounding the valuable artwork, but each player intended to become wealthy. The fascinating events spanned over forty years and captivated people from three continents. Discover how the artist Marc Chagall, the last great survivor of the School of Paris, his Russian beauty, a California entrepreneur, an Ophthalmologist, a Polish ex-convict, and his gullible brother all converge in an adventure that will end when only one person finally has The Lost Chagall.