At the time of the departure of a freighter, a man runs on the pier, begging that he be taken aboard. The captain agrees. The only passengers are the captain’s niece, Marie, accompanied by her baby boy. A radio message is received. It seems that a murderer has just escaped on a boat.

A young Flemish peasant experiences the brutal side of war after his father has left to fight at the battle front of the Yser, his mother has been executed by German soldiers and his grandfather has been sent to an internment camp. He decides to take up arms and joins the Belgian army to avenge his mother’s death…

The film is based on the bitter rivalry of two pigeon racers, Fred, the bell-ringer of Bruges and Neel, the fiancé of Fred's partially sighted sister. Following a major tournament, won by Neel's bird, Fred's resentment drives him to mount an attack upon his rival so ferocious that he believes he has killed him. Seized by remorse, he intends to throw himself from the belfry, but his disabled sister risks her own life to mount to the tower and try to save him.

Faithfully reproduced observations of Breton fisherfolk in story of the man a local woman really loves who will not at first give himself to her because of his fondness for the sea that takes him away.

When the commander of a cruiser ,which sank in a confrontation,is tried for negligence, will the wife speak up in his defense? Unknown to him, she was trapped in the cabin below with her former lover, a subordinate officer.