May 1940, in the French Ardennes. The German Army is getting ready to invade France. Old Gustave lives alone in his village with Camille, his teenage granddaughter and Etienne, his grandson. All the other inhabitants have evacuated the village, which makes Gustave very happy as he is the sole master there. Etienne, does not care because he is too young but Camille is beginning to suffer from her solitude and finds it hard to put up with her granddad's selfishness and bossiness. One day a patrol of African-born soldiers ("Tirailleurs Sénégalais") comes to the deserted village...

Vazquez, 60, owns a small French publishing house. His mother, a Spanish refugee, raised him in the memory of a father, hero of the resistance under Franquism. His daughter Lauriane, 30, has a complicated love life, but still lives with her father.