We follow 14-year-old Marina Yurlova who joins her father, Cossack Colonel Yurlov, on a train to the front. Artist Käthe Kollwitz and her husband must accept their 17-year-old son’s decision to enlist. The Austrian Karl Kasser is sent to the front despite an injury and ten-year-old Yves Congar from Sedan expects France to win quickly. He feels safe in his family until German troops arrive on the doorstep.