Near the southeastern border of France, stands a fine old French mansion which is known for miles around as the Chateau de Grandpre. Here lives the last of the family, Hugo de Grandpre, a young French officer, and his two beautiful sisters, Yvonne and Babiole. The beauty of Yvonne, the elder sister, is so widely famed among the neighbors that even Bobeche, the village innkeeper, whose wife, Marie, was Yvonne's foster sister, has ventured to conceive a passion for the high-born girl. The village lies directly in the line of German invasion; the Chateau de Grandpre is the first place which the German invaders occupy. War is declared. German officers seize the chateau. Among them is a wild young lieutenant, Eric von Rodek, known in his mess as "The Babe." An untutored cub, he proceeds to play frantic tricks in the country house, breaking the family statuary, shooting out the eyes of the family portraits, insulting the priest of the family, and inviting a bevy of dancing-girls to sup at the family dining-table. Yvonne de Grandpre takes him sternly to task. She throws a glass of wine in his face. He determines to have revenge on her. He finds her in the village inn at a moment when Bobeche, the innkeeper, is in the wine cellar, and he attacks her violently. But Eric, though wild, is not bad at heart. He listens to Yvonne's appeal and spares her. He leaves her fainting. Bobeche, coming from the wine cellar, sees his chance. The innkeeper, in turn, is about to assail the unconscious girl. Eric returns in time to prevent the assault. He struggles with Bobeche, stabs him, throws him dead at Yvonne's feet and goes. The discovery of the murder raises a turmoil. The villagers make complaint to General von Brandenburg, commanding the German forces. The General institutes an inquiry. Eric is accused. Eric admits that he killed the innkeeper. Fearing to compromise Yvonne, he refuses to say why he did it. Yvonne, standing in a curtained gallery, with her sister Babiole, and with Marie, wife of Bobeche, her foster-sister, overhears his confession. She believes that Eric actually carried out his original purpose and that Bobeche died in defense of her. Yvonne makes up her mind to take the law into her own hands. Yvonne draws a knife and stabs Eric. Then she relents. Eric is not dead. Unknown to her fierce brother Hugo, Yvonne nurses Eric back to life. Eric rejoins his regiment. To him, as atonement for his misdeeds, is allotted the dangerous and possibly fatal task of blowing up one of the frontier bridges. Yvonne's love is now so great that she has grown reckless of her family and her country. Hugo, her brother, learns what she has done. He has her dragged before a court-martial. He incites the court to condemn her to death. She is on the point of being executed when Eric returns in force. Yvonne is saved. Eric and Yvonne await the hour when the restoration of peace shall bring them together, and time shall obliterate the memory of "The War of Wars" and the terrible events of 1914.—Moving Picture World synopsis
During World War I, in the village of Grandpre on the French-Belgian border, the chateau where Hugo de Grandpre and his sisters, Yvonne and Babiole, life is taken over by invading German troops. Riotous young German Lieutenant Eric von Rodek, known as "the Babe," plays havoc in the chateau, shooting at the walls and insulting everyone. When he brings in dancing girls from the nearby inn, Yvonne orders them out and throws a glass of wine in Eric's face. They return to the inn, and Yvonne follows because she is supposed to secretly meet her brother Hugo there. When the young officer sees her in the inn's wine cellar, he impulsively starts to take revenge on her, but then has a change of heart and spares her when she faints. When the officer leaves, the innkeeper, Bobeche, taking advantage of Yvonne's vulnerability, tries to rape her, but Eric returns in time to stop him and, in an ensuing struggle, kills the Frenchman. When the murder is discovered, Eric admits that he is guilty but does not implicate Yvonne, fearing that she will be compromised. Yvonne, however, thinks that Eric raped her and that Bobeche was merely trying to defend her. She stabs Eric but then has a change of heart when she finds an unmanned letter to his father saying why he killed the innkeeper. Nursing her savior back to health, she falls in love. However, when she defends him, her brother Hugo puts her in front of a court-martial as a traitor and she is condemned to death. However, an artillery shell lands, wiping out the firing squad, and Eric, who had been away on a dangerous mission as punishment for his crime, arrives to carry her away. They decide to wait together until peace is declared. - AFI Catalog.
