During the First World War, Camille (Sylvie Testud), a young woman whose husband is away fighting at the front, receives a short letter of break-up from him. Distraught, she decides to go to join him, but is driven back by the rule of the time which forbids women to move around alone. She has no other recourse than to dress herself up as a man so as to be able to take to the road on foot. As she lives near the Western Fromt she hooks up with a passing group of French soldiers without too much trouble. But there's something a bit odd about these stragglers, and it's not just their habit of bursting into song at every opportunity.
A college stands in the middle of verdant grounds. One day, Édouard, a student, suddenly falls sick. The college doctor is unable to diagnose the young man's illness. Anna, the college director, calls in Édouard's two brothers, professional soldiers, in the hope that they will help her discover what the mysterious illness is.
Alexandre, a thirty-year old tailor, has decided to improve his cultural level. That is the reason why he has decided to attend an evening school. The lessons are given in the classroom of an elementary class by a teacher named Etienne. The subject of the course is : "The solitude of Jean-Jacques Rousseau". Will Alexandre become another man after grappling with with Rousseau, Diderot and ... Etienne? - Guy Bellinger
