End of World War II: As the german soldiers are being pushed back into their own country from the front lines they decide to steal or destroy as much important art as possible. Frank Stokes, an american art historian, can persuade president Roosevelt to send him among 6 other curators, art historians etc. to the front lines so they can try to retrieve as much of the stolen art as possible and protect the rest. They not only have to struggle with the german army but also men from their own countries who are either unwilling to change military tactics for this purpose - Operation Monuments Men - or even strife to steal art for themselves. At the end of the war they find a gigantic collection of art in a salt mine that they are able to protect from the sowjet army. When Stokes is later asked by Roosevelt if this mission was worth the lifes of the men who died, he simply replies "Yes". Decades later the now old Stokes is shown visiting a statue with his grandson that he has rescued.