A student (played by Assi Dayan) decides to leave Paris and the University during the War of the Roses. He walks through the French countryside and encounters a variety of people, each of whom has been affected by the violence of the time in different ways. He meets a beautiful young noblewoman (played by Angelica Huston, in her first role) and takes shelter in her father's castle for one night. Several days later, the news reaches him that the castle has been burned by peasants. He returns to find the noblewoman all alone, and they become lovers wandering the countryside.

Heron of Foix leaves his university in Paris to seek adventure. Traveling across France during the chaos of the Hundred Years War, he sees the French fighting the English and the peasants in revolt against the landowners. He meets Claudia, a wealthy lord's daughter whose home has been overrun by peasants, and he takes her to her uncle, Robert the Elder, a nobleman who has joined the peasants' cause. Claudia wants revenge, but Heron, remembering the ravages of war and death, urges peace. Eventually, they find shelter in a monastery that is about to be attacked by soldiers. The monks flee as the soldiers approach, but Heron and Claudia perform a wedding ceremony for themselves and await death.