The story of how the people of Paris cope with the strains and struggles of war, from the siege of the city by the Prussians during the Franco-Prussian War of 1871 to the invasion by the Germans in World War II.

Two-sided painting of the German occupation in France: the acts of heroism of the maquis are opposed to the villainies of the profiteers and the drafts, all treated in the manner of the imagery of Épinal.