This moving French drama chronicles the touching relationship between a French officer and a retarded soldier. It is set during the Algerian War, circa 1961. Sergeant Dallers has just been stationed in a remote and primitive Algerian outpost. A highly educated man, he is at first distressed that his assigned partner, Lagrange, is mentally retarded and should never been drafted. Lagrange has had to put up with the bored pranks of the other soldiers for a while now because he wants them to like and accept him. He is so retarded that he cannot be trusted with a real gun and therefore carries a wooden one. In time Dallers comes to care about Lagrange and to become more understanding of his plight. Simple Lagrange becomes a hero toward the end of the film.