Vermont, US: Julien, in his nineties and aware he is in the twilight of his life, decides to finally share his past with his family.

Bordeaux region, France, 1941: Nineteen-year-old Julien lives on the family farm which the occupying Germans use to lodge officers. He and his friends start helping local families fallen on hard times due to the war, and he slowly gets more and more involved with the Resistance, despite the fact that the enemy sleeps under his very own roof.

But the enemy has many faces, including that of Engel, who has just arrived at the farm and who awakens troubling emotions in Julien, emotions which he thought had been repressed. The young German officer is not like the other soldiers and refuses to make excuses for the atrocities they commit. He soon unites with Julien both in the struggle against tyranny and in love.

Despite the obstacles the couple face in an era which regards them as an abomination, they battle valiantly to prove that love is stronger than borders or prejudice.