The film focuses on life in a World War II German penal battalion camp somewhere in Russia. The convicts include a heroic doctor unjustly convicted of avoiding military service, an officer who retreated against orders, and common criminals. It shows their life in the camp, clearing mines, living in trenches on the front line.
The women of a Swiss community finally want to achieve equal rights. At the top of the uproar is the midwife Spyri, who does not want to be married by the head of the district, Stirnimann. They succeed in abducting the head of the community and using his former lover in his place.
