[3] After being appointed a defence attorney, despite his protests and having no legal expertise, and performing well, Norbert is coerced into filling to place of the departing prosecutor to protect Conan, who is facing multiple charges, from the danger of unjust and severe punishment.

With the help of the Romanian police and a French prostitute, Norbert finds and prosecutes the culprits but ensures they receive light sentences.

[4] Despite the soldiers wishing to return home, the French move up to the Danube as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War and come under attack from the Red Army.

In a sombre epilogue, years later back in France, Norbert visits Conan to find him no longer the dashing hero but the terminally ill owner of a small haberdashers, his profession before the war, disappointed with his neighbours and wife.

[5] Janet Maslin, of The New York Times, said that Mr. Torreton powerfully embodies the film's central questions of what a fighter becomes without combat and where the values inherent in savage battle may lead.