In the last years of World War II, a group of North African soldiers, largely Muslims, enlist to free France--a country they consider their motherland, even though they've never set foot in it--from the Nazis. The story is told through four characters: Abdelkader, a corporal who hopes to be promoted to sergeant; Messaoud, an ace marksman who fall in love with a beautiful Frenchwoman; Yassir, a Berber peasant who needs the money to marry off his younger brother; and Saïd, who leaves as his own father did in WWI, because he feels it's his duty. They give their all, despite getting little respect or recognition, and suffering the privations of those habitually discriminated against. These 'native' soldiers selflessly fought for a France they had never seen, and the film records their past heroics to give dignity to the generations of today and the future.