France 1920: French Major Delaplane commands a unit charged with restoring the identities of dead soldiers. Not an easy task with 350.000 soldiers missing in action. Delaplane who hates the idea of „the unknown soldier“ is completely devoted to this mission. It is his firm conviction that the men who died for their country derserve a grave with their name on it. Only reluctantly he obeys to the order of the ministry of war to to certify a soldier — any soldier — as "unknown" to meet the deadline for enshrining a nameless warrior in France's tomb of the unknown soldier, the Arc de Triomphe. Into his sector, looking for her husband, comes a haughty, politically connected Parisian, Madame Irène de Courtil. Brusquely, Unimpressed Dellaplane offers her 1/350,000th of his time, but as their paths cross and she sees his courage and resolve, feelings change. Deleplane also tries to help Alice, a young woman looking for her husband. Eventually he discovers a surprising connection between the two men. When Dellaplane tells Irène the fate of her beloved — and who he really was — the shock devastates her. As for Alice, Dellaplane falls in love with her, but does not reveal his feelings until his job is done and she is more than 4,000 miles away.