Life, love and death when the German blitzkrieg smashes into France, and four French teenagers choose between cooperation with the Nazis or resistance.
Occupied France.
Philippe and Yves must avoid the Nazis who are always looking for young people to send to work in Germany.
Both boys are in love with Jacquie, but she only has eyes for Yves. And she really loves the scar on his face, which makes him appear to be constantly smiling.
When Yves receives his papers for the forced labour scheme, his way out is to join the Milice.
But Philippe joins the French Resistance.
A seam of latent anti Semitism runs through the underground movement, and swimming in a lake, Philippe sees that one of the Maquisards is circumcised. He must be a Jew.
News arrives that Yves is doing well in the Milice and that
Jacquie is often seen with a Wehrmacht officer.
Eventually their orders arrive: attack the Nazis as they leave for Normandy.
But when they ambush the Das Reich Division, things go badly wrong.
Philippe is wounded and then found by a German patrol. The officer in charge has a scar on his face.
And his mouth is twisted into a permanent smile…