Near the southeastern border of France, stands a fine old French mansion which is known for miles around as the Chateau de Grandpre. Here lives the last of the family, Hugo de Grandpre, a young French officer, and his two beautiful sisters, Yvonne and Babiole. The beauty of Yvonne, the elder sister, is so widely famed among the neighbors that even Bobeche, the village innkeeper, whose wife, Marie, was Yvonne's foster sister, has ventured to conceive a passion for the high-born girl. The village lies directly in the line of German invasion; the Chateau de Grandpre is the first place which the German invaders occupy. War is declared. German officers seize the chateau. Among them is a wild young lieutenant, Eric von Rodek, known in his mess as "The Babe.