The film is set in 1917 and tells the story of a primary school teacher from, who because of his libertine and anti-war behavior is forced by his principal to enlist volunteer in the Great War, not to lose his job. He is destined to a small outpost as heliographic operator. The encounter with the enemy and with a cast of characters from every part of Italy, often unable to communicate with each other because of the dialects, ends up to profoundly change his life.