It chronicles the impact of World War II on a small village in central France. The series follows the lives of the villagers during the war as their lives become irrevocably changed by the German occupation and its aftermath. The Germans arrive in June 1940; the occupation will go on for five years and will reveal the strengths, weaknesses and secrets of the characters as they come under the pressures of war.

Beginning with the Germans arrival in June 1940, they endure five years of rationing, fighting and betrayals, and strain to keep some semblance of their existence intact. The war shatters all their lives, but a few of them, even in the shadow of destruction, reach out to find fleeting moments of connection and love.