The inventor Sir Claude Amery wants to give the thief of the formula for his latest invention the chance to return it in the dark without being recognized. He gathers everyone in the house in the library and has the lights switched off for a short time. When the light comes back on, Amery is dead. A case for the Belgian master detective Hercule Poirot.

The movie depicts the events from July until September of 1914 which led to the defeat of the German troops at the Marne. While Sebastian Haffner explains and comments on operations and decisions on the basis of situation maps, key scenes are depicted by actors. A main focus is thereby placed by Haffner onto the controversial mission of lieutenant-colonel Richard Hentsch who is said to have, during a war patrol to the various army high commands, contributed to the abortion of the operations significantly.

While on a longer business trip, a wannabe poet urges his beautiful but more simple wife to answer his overly swollen love letters. With no idea how to respond she forwards the letters to a new young school teacher to use his answers instead...

A boy who was once a perpetual outcast finds friends in a new boarding school, united with his new peers gets involved in a heated rivalry with a group of students from a neighboring school.