A new season is beginning at the Paris Opera Ballet. Zoé has found her place as Prima Ballerina, and Flora is now part of the Corps de Ballet. Following Sébastien’s departure, the position of Dance Director remains vacant. As the Company waits for a successor to be named, it welcomes a Ballet Mistress, Diane Taillandier, a former instructor from the School of Dance. At the Paris Opera Ballet, everyone knows Diane. Especially Zoé, who is reunited with the woman who was her surrogate mother at the Paris Opera Ballet Dance School. With Diane around, the new Prima Ballerina feels reassured and protected. But Diane soon insists that Zoé be cast in everything, all the time. This sign of trust quickly turns into a poisoned gift.

The race to Varna is on. Six candidates will be selected and trained by Diane to represent the Paris Opera Ballet in Bulgaria. In admiration of the new ballet mistress, Flora is more driven than ever. Aurore, on the other hand, is more reserved. The two friends get into an argument while visiting an apartment Flora wants to rent, when she is accused of stealing a knick-knack, and discovers the rel thief. Flora can’t understand her friend’s act.

The Varna selection is only a few days away. Flora’s only goal is to be noticed by Diane, and she fails. After being humiliated in class by the Ballet Mistress, Flora learns that only five dancers have been chosen for Bulgaria. A disappointed Flora finds comfort in the arms of a new lover.

In a physiotherapy center, Zoé works hard on her comeback. Eager to return to the stage, she ignores the doctors’ advice and pushes herself too hard in the hopes of a faster recovery. Her routine is disturbed by Alec’s arrival. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to play again. The dancer and the musician are forced to cohabitate, igniting sparks between them.

In Bulgaria, it’s almost the big day. Diane and her champions, along with dozens of candidates from around the world, have come to Varna hoping to win a medal. The Paris Opera Ballet dancers are surprised to run into Sébastien, their former director, training a young dancer from his company. Diane is determined to get the very most out of her protégés, and is tougher on them than ever. Roxane is brutalized by the Ballet Mistress, and loses control.

Zoé is back at the Opera, where she continues her physiotherapy sessions under Diane’s supervision. The Ballet Mistress is delighted by her protégée’s progress and plans for her great comeback. But there’s a problem. The dates she added for Zoé cause a legal mess with the ballet’s copyright holders. Diane circumvents this issue by deciding to perform Mathilde, a ballet created for her that hasn’t been staged in forty years. Not only is this a gift to Zoe, it’s also a brilliant political coup. Now, they will have to name her Director of Dance.