故事发生在1925年的罗马尼亚跟保加利亚交界的边境地带。一名年轻职业军官和他的妻子来到这个许多民族交汇、民族积怨很深的地方。当八个军人被其他种族的人杀死后,上级下令抓了一批保加利亚人,并把他们处死。夫妻俩由此产生分歧。In 1925 Romania, young Marie-Therese Von Debretsy refuses the flirtatious advances of her husband's commanding officer. As a result, the cosmopolitan family is reassigned to a brutally bleak and dangerous outpost on the Bulgarian/Romanian frontier where both their relationship and humanity are severely tested.