Sarah Lewis, a 26-year-old farmer's wife, awakes one morning to find that her husband has disappeared along with all the men in the valley. Assuming they have joined the Resistance, the women of this tiny community pull together, taking on the running of the farms, and wait, desperate for news. A German patrol arrives in the valley, the purpose of its mission a mystery. When a severe winter forces the two groups into co-operation, Sarah begins an acquaintance with the patrol's commanding officer, Albrecht. Cut off from the surrounding war, the lines between collaboration, duty, occupation and survival become blurred.