This is August 1944. In France the times are uncertain and some places can be in turns liberated by the Allies and reclaimed by the Occupiers. The place is Nanteuil, a provincial town. The German troops present there are exhausted and leaderless and have offered the inhabitants to surrender. Exhilarated, the people from Nanteuil celebrate the event loudly and merrily but ...a bit prematurely. What they do not know is that a German officer has arrived and undertaken to galvanize the demoralized troops into resuming fighting...