In 1930s southern France, a father is torn between his sense of honor and his deep love for his daughter when she gets in trouble with the wealthy son of a shopkeeper.

Provence, the days before World War I. Rustic well-digger Pascal Amoretti, a widower, encourages fellow laborer Félipe Rambert to date his virgin eldest daughter Patricia, the only of his five who attended a Paris finishing school. Getting drunk, Felipe unwittingly helps her date wealthy general store owner Mazel's handsome, womanizing son, dashing air force pilot Jacques, who gives her a motorbike ride home, make love and get her pregnant. Shortly after, both men are called for military service. On leave, Felipe finds out the truth and still proposes. Jacques is reported missing in action, his family refuses to recognize the baby, so Pascal sends Patricia with it to his outcast sister.—KGF Vissers

By cutting through the fields to bring lunch to her father, Patricia Amoretti encounters Jacques Mazel. She is 18, he is 26. She is pretty, with the fine manners of a young lady; he is a handsome fighter pilot. A little bit of moonlight will do the rest during their second meeting; there will not be a third as Jacques is sent to the front. However, the second encounter leads to Patricia's pregnancy.