First, the eye is introduced to the old mill itself, with a gay betrothal party in progress, and laughter and merriment on all sides. Suddenly the laughter is hushed by the martial tread of feet, and the smile of joy fades from the two young lovers' faces as the French soldiers march into the courtyard and prepare to defend the mill against the oncoming attack of the German army. The mild summer afternoon has but half way run its course towards its western home when a wounded outpost comes staggering into the courtyard with the news of the advancing German army stamped upon his blood-stained forehead. Suddenly the courtyard is filled with the smoke of battle, and we know that the long-expected attack is on. In one of the rooms of the ancient mill old Merlier, his daughter and young Dominique, her lover, are huddled close together in mute terror and humble submission, while behind the barricaded windows of the room kneel powdered and blood-stained French soldiers, sullenly resisting the leaden onslaught of the Germans from without. Neither old Merlier nor Dominique takes any interest in the conflict save that of terror, fear, wondering when it will all be over and dreading the result. A leaden messenger of was her rudely kissed the brow of Dominique's sweetheart, and slowly the red blood trickles down her cheek. Dominique sees it, and a savage impulse of defense leaps into his brain. He hurls one of the soldiers aside and, seizing his gun, smashes the window frame and stands there loading and firing with the determination that each shot shall reach the heart of a German soldier and teach him to remember that the woman whom Dominique loves is more precious to him than a thousand other lives. At sunset the French decide that to defend the mill any longer would be useless, and a hasty retreat is ordered, but Dominique does not hear them. The red stream of blood on his sweetheart's forehead is all that he can think of, and so he continues to load and fire until suddenly he is confronted by the German Captain and his officers, and into his ears are read these words: "Any citizen of France hearing arms against the German army, not clothed in French military uniform, will be treated as a spy and shot without court martial." He feels the warm, soft arms of his sweetheart around his neck, and then he is marched away to be locked in a room till the Germans have time to end his life in the morning. Upstairs in the room above him old Merlier's daughter stands listening. She is thinking and thinking of the coming dawn. Silently she goes to the window and opens the inner shutters. The soft moonlight steals into the room. She decides to crawl down the ivy-covered wall to her lover below. Unfastening the window of her room with an old knife, she crawls down to the window below and knocks. Soon the two lovers are in each other's arms. After much pleading Dominique agrees to try and escape for her sake. They steal to the window. On the opposite shore by the great waterfalls can be seen the German sentinel passing back and forth in the moonlight, with his rifle on his shoulder. Dominique is unarmed. Slowly the girl takes from her bosom the knife and finally stretches it towards him. The lovers look into each other's eyes and they understand one another. Dominique takes the knife and prepares to leave. An hour later and the head of a man appears above the rocks on the bank of the opposite shore, just behind the waiting sentinel. A stone falls into the river; a muttered cry and the two men are locked in each other's arms in a terrific struggle. A knife gleams in the moonlight, and slowly the sentinel sinks to the ground, while young Dominique stands staring down at him. The alarm of Dominique's escape is given in the morning, and the body of the dead sentinel is brought before the commanding officer, together with the knife that was found beside him. Old Merlier realizes by his daughter's looks of terror and cry of fear that she is guilty of young Dominique's escape, and he takes the blame upon himself to shield her from the guilt. The commanding officer is relentless in his determination to capture young Dominique and gives Merlier the opportunity of finding him and bringing him back in order to save his own life. This, of course, the old man refuses to do, knowing what it would mean to two young lives. But his daughter learns the fact and seeks out Dominique in his hiding place. There she is forced to tell the man she loves that his life is the price of her father's. The hour of execution has arrived, and old Merlier stands waiting for his doom, when young Dominique and his sweetheart return only to find that she has failed to save either one of their lives, as the Commander decides to make both pay the penalty of the crime. But the fate of war often chances with the passing moment, and it is thus that the ultimate close of the picture gives the audience a thrill of joy and surprise that were well to leave untold.