Patrick Conrad

The Belgian linguistics professor Matthias is going through a difficult period in relations with his girlfriend Anne. She is French, he is Belgian, and, oddly enough for an enlightened Europe and a doubly enlightened university environment, this small difference is a shadow on the couple’s personal life. One day, during a train ride, Anne disappears and Mathias goes looking for her in an unknown city.

Lieve is a Belgian woman who marries just as World War II is beginning. When the Germans invade, her husband goes off to fight them, but he swiftly returns home after the invasion succeeds. Later, he decides that the Germans are on the right side of things, and goes off to fight for them on the Eastern Front. Soon afterward, a resistance fighter is stranded on her doorway, and she hides him. The two of them fall in love, and the conflicts and joys of this relationship cause Lieve continued grief well after the end of the war.