France, 1939. In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac bids farewell to her husband Antoine, who is heading to the front. She does not believe that the Nazis will invade France, but they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the sky and drop bombs on the innocent. When a German captain seizes Vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. With no food, money, or hope, as danger rises around them, she is forced to make one impossible decision after another to keep her family alive. Vianne's sister Isabelle is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl searching for meaning with the reckless passion of youth. As thousands of Parisians march into the unknown horrors of war, she meets Gaetan, a partisan who believes that the French can fight the Nazis from within France.