After Lieutenant Colonel Pierre Raspeguy leads his defeated and humiliated French army out of Indochina, he learns that he's been relieved of all command. A French Countess finagles a new position for him in Algeria and he persuades two wartime buddies to join him in shaping up a rag-tag unit. Raspeguy is forced to confront an Arab terrorist and launches a bloody battle against Segal's rebel forces.