France, May 1940. In a small village on the Belgian border, near the immense Ardennes forest. Contrary to the other inhabitants who fear a German invasion, Gustave decides to stay in the village with his two young children, Camille, a young teenager and Etienne, a little boy. One fine morning, a group of Senegalese soldiers arrive in the village lost. Gustave is suspicious of the soldiers, who could be dangerous without their white colonel, his children meanwhile are fascinated by the arrivals...