The story revolves around a woman's love for two young men. Set in Antwerp, Belgium in 1940, Lieve (Marie-Christine Barrault) marries Adriaan (Rutger Hauer), a Flemish idealist who is drawn to the Eastern Front during the German occupation. In 1942, she shelters the resistance member François (Roger Van Hool) and discovers true love with him. At the liberation, she is reunited with a bruised and sentenced Adriaan. Despite her passion for François, she is unable to abandon her husband in these trying circumstances. However, as time goes on, she starts to drift away from her husband while sensing that François, who is preoccupied with his career, is also drifting away from her.