May, 1940: As the German troops advance, French radio mechanic Julien Maroyeur, his pregnant wife Monique and his little daughter leave the small village on the Belgian border. At the train station they get on a train crowded with refugees. While his pregnant wife and his daughter get a seat on a compartment coach, Julien has to travel in a livestock waggon.
Also in this waggon: Anna Kupfer, a German Jewish girl. Julien feels attracted by the silent beautiful woman, and she seemingly has the same feelings for the shy man.
In a station early the following morning, while almost everybody is asleep, the train is divided into two. During a stop in Moulin Julien searches in vain for his wife.
Despite their hopeless situation Anna and Julien fall in love. "What do we do, once the train arrives?", asks Anna desperately. To save her from being arrested in La Rochelle, Julien passes Anna off as his wife, pretending she has lost her papers. hereupon she receives provisional papers. At city hall Julien learns that his wife has given birth to a boy in a hospital on the river Loire. Anna accompanies him on the bus. In the corridor of the ward he asks her to wait for him while he visits his wife, his daughter and the baby.
Three years later, in Winter 1943, Julien is cited to the Gestapo. He is shown the papers issued in La Rochelle with Anna`s picture and his name under it, an interrogation starts. Julien keeps his silence. Even when faced with Anna, he pretends not to know her. She, too, does not show a blink. The Gestapo-officer allows Julien to leave. Already in the doorway, he turn around, fondles her face, although he knows that in doing so he risks his life.