When the Big war started, the 2nd of August 1914, Louis is one of those first mobilized. He has to leave Marie and his village in Corsica for the plains of the Marne where the fights rage. On the front, he is a stretcher-bearer and crosses the battlefield, at night, in search of the wounded. One day, while the trench is sorely lacking water, he is chosen to go to a well situated halfway between the French and German territories in what they called "no-man's-land". There, he finds himself in front of a German soldier who has also come too stock up.

En 1916, Louis, brancardier sur le front de l'Est, est chargé de ramener de l'eau d'un puits situé dans le « no man's land ». C'est là que vient se ravitailler un soldat allemand.