French woman help soldier bathe in bucket during war

August 1914: wife and mother, woman's first sacrifice is to see her beloved depart for the front. In a city, she works in railway stations,as a waitress or even as a chimney sweep. At the factory, she only interrupts her work to feed her baby. At the country she does the plowing or picks olives. But above all a wife, she brings the soldier "fraternity and tenderness", parcels, love notes and care. She brings flowers to the dead's tombs, and remains ever present in the soldier's heart.

During the First World War, Camille (Sylvie Testud), a young woman whose husband is away fighting at the front, receives a short letter of break-up from him. Distraught, she decides to go to join him, but is driven back by the rule of the time which forbids women to move around alone. She has no other recourse than to dress herself up as a man so as to be able to take to the road on foot. As she lives near the Western Fromt she hooks up with a passing group of French soldiers without too much trouble. But there's something a bit odd about these stragglers, and it's not just their habit of bursting into song at every opportunity.

In occupied France during the Franco-Prussian War, a young French laundress shares a coach ride with several of her condescending social superiors. But when a Prussian officer holds the coach over, social standings are leveled and integrity and spirit are put to the test.

When the Big war started, the 2nd of August 1914, Louis is one of those first mobilized. He has to leave Marie and his village in Corsica for the plains of the Marne where the fights rage. On the front, he is a stretcher-bearer and crosses the battlefield, at night, in search of the wounded. One day, while the trench is sorely lacking water, he is chosen to go to a well situated halfway between the French and German territories in what they called "no-man's-land". There, he finds himself in front of a German soldier who has also come too stock up.

France, 1940. In the first days of occupation, beautiful Lucile Angellier is trapped in a stifled existence with her controlling mother-in-law as they both await news of her husband: a prisoner of war. Parisian refugees start to pour into their small town, soon followed by a regiment of German soldiers who take up residence in the villagers' own homes. Lucile initially tries to ignore Bruno von Falk, the handsome and refined German officer staying with them. But soon, a powerful love draws them together and leads them into the tragedy of war.

In 1944, in a small village in Calvados, just as the Allies landed, a British plane was shot down. The wounded pilot seeks help. All the villagers, who speak only of resistance, refuse to help, for fear of reprisals. Only the mayor, Dr. Leproux, takes him in and nurses him back to health, then entrusts him to the Resistance. But the Germans get wind of the story and arrest Leproux. He is saved by Major Frantz. But the budding friendship between these two men "doesn't stop the drums", and the war is on.

France, 1914. The destinies of four women intersect : Marguerite, a mysterious Parisian prostitute, Caroline, propelled to the head of the family factory, Agnes, Mother Superior of a requisitioned convent and Suzanne, a feminist nurse.

Wed just as war breaks out, Jeanne hardly gets to know her military husband, Louis, before the debacle of 1940. While waiting for his return from a POW camp, Jeanne journeys through countless affairs with Louis' comrades- in-arms. Hoping to forget these wartime betrayls, Louis takes his wife and the infant twins he didn't father to Berlin, where she falls for Matthais, a sensitive German industrialist. When the Indochinese war sends Louis to Vietnam, Matthais follows Jeanne back to France. A subsequent move to Damascus where Louis is posted as military attache, fails to break their bond.

Summer 1870. Following the French defeat at Sedan. Léon, a soldier in a detachment isolated in the Ardennes forest, is sent in search of water. When he discovers the most peaceful of rivers, he decides to undress and bathe in it. At bend of the river he catches sight of another naked swimmer. It's a Prussian! Both men start bickering a bit: aren't they supposed to be arch enemies? But they soon fraternize. Unfortunately the patrol has not vanished in the haze and they hear it coming. Each man gets hold of his uniform and runs away in two opposite directions. The only trouble is that Fritz the Prussian has donned the French uniform and Leon the Prussian one!