The action begins in 1991, with the death of Jiang Ching (Madame Mao), then moves backwards in her recollections to her early career and first encounter with Mao, and then moves forward to 1991.

Jiang Ching observes her corpse swinging in the cell where she has hanged herself and relives the episodes of her life that have led up to her suicide. Her relationship with her third husband, Chairman Mao, begins to dissolve. Her dreams of success as a young actress are constantly betrayed by the men who control her world. She observes her great achievement as Nora in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. She remembers her lover, the Actor/Manager, and is furious when he gives her role in his subsequent movie to his new mistress. Her father throws her into the street as a child with her mother, who is no longer any use to him as a whore. She joins the revolutionaries led by Mao Zedong, who takes a fancy to the young actress. Their love­making is interrupted by his warrior-wife, ZhiZhen, who berates them. Mao has ZhiZhen committed to a lunatic asylum.

The Politburo refuses to allow the marriage between Mao and Jiang Ching. He blackmails them into acceptance, which is given with the proviso that Jiang Ching shall never hold any post of influence for thirty years. Mao drops into a life of debauchery and promiscuity. He is now a sick man and relies on Jiang Ching to carry out his new policies. The Cultural Revolution is initiated to root out “the poison weed of education, art and politics.” Jiang Ching uses the bloodbath that follows to exert her personal revenge against all those who have opposed or betrayed her. Mao, on his deathbed, decides to abandon her. She is determined not to be cheated of the power for which she has waited for thirty years. Mao dies and Jiang Ching, having failed in her bid for power, is accused of crimes against the State and against Mao. She is condemned to death but her sentence is suspended. Ten years later, Jiang Ching commits suicide. Like Nora, she believes that posterity will vindicate her: “The world may say I’m mad … We’ll see who’s right – the world or I!”