Sabine Haudepin

In a town in northern France, teenagers sitting for the baccalaureate await the fateful date with anxiety tempered with indifference. The past year has been the scene of their conflicts with adults and teachers alike who consider the exam as the highway to employment. The disillusioned teenagers see it more as the dead-end street to unemployment.

Two friends, the German Jules and the French Jim, fall in love with the same woman, Catherine, but she marries Jules and returns to Germany with him. World War I separates the two friends and when they meet again Catherine changes partners.