When war comes to France in 1939, Vianne Mauriac sees her husband leave for the front and is left to raise their young daughter alone in a quiet country village. Her headstrong younger sister Isabelle, long estranged from their bitter, withdrawn father Julien, has no patience for caution and refuses to accept defeat. As German soldiers take over the village, an officer is billeted in Vianne's own home, and food, freedom and trust grow ever scarcer. While Vianne struggles simply to keep her child safe and to protect her Jewish friend Rachel, Isabelle is drawn into the Resistance, taking on secret and dangerous work that puts her life in constant danger. Over the long years of occupation, the sisters must each find their own kind of courage, and decide what they are prepared to sacrifice for the people they love.