1940. German Panzers smash through the Ardennes forests. Eight million people flee the Wehrmacht onslaught, including Paul (Olivier Gourmet), the mayor of a small town. His wife Mado (Mathilde Seigner) travels with him along with Suzanne (Alice Isaaz), a schoolteacher who also acts as surrogate mother to Max, a displaced German boy. They head for the south while Hans, Max’s father, an anti-Nazi who has just managed to escape his captors, tries desperately to find his son in the midst of the mass exodus.
It’s an intimate story told on an epic scale, an impressive period piece by veteran director Christian Carion, with a grand musical score from Ennio Morricone.