In November 1918, a few days before the Armistice, when Lt. Pradelle orders a senseless attack, he causes a useless disaster, but his outrageous act also binds the lives of two soldiers who have nothing more in common than the battlefield: Édouard saves Albert, although at a high cost. They become companions in misfortune who will attempt to survive in a changing world. Pradelle, in his own way, does the same. The film largely erased the homosexuality of its hero, that was central in the Pierre Lemaitre novel.