Romania in the 1920′s. In a border town on the left bank of the Danube, the local nobility attend a glittering ball. Army Captain Petre Dumitriu and his beautiful young wife Marie-Therese are the toast of the event. Deeply faithful to her husband and family Mardo Therese scoms the advances of General Ipsilanti--leading to the Dumitriu family′s transfer to an isolated garrison in the Dobroudja region. There, while Petre assumes command of his ill-trained and often-insubordinate troops, Marie-Therese does her best to makea happy home for her family, despite stray bullets that shatter mirrors. When bandits kill eight of his men, the Captain is forced to take a group of Bulgarian peasants hostage. Although initially frightened by these men, Marie-Therese eventually takes pity on them and invests time and effort into getting to know them. They soon become more than just political pawns to her, and when her husband is ordered to execute them, she is devastated-and doesn′t intend for this to happen without a struggle.