Epic historical fiction focused on the German paratrooper Ulrich Werner, who fights in World War II, Indochina and Algeria.

In 1967, a torso washes up on the banks of the Mississippi.

Flashback to 1950-Legion paratroops fly over the Vietnamese jungle. Ulrich recollects: Hannover 1940, he celebrates Christmas with his medical student girlfriend, Penelope. The teenager, Cassandra, gives him a Roman ring but he is wary of her Nazi father, Joachim.

In 1941, Ulrich and his comrade, Agemund, parachute onto the island of Crete. As Germany's fortune turns, Ulrich is sent to Sicily then Russia.

In 1944 on the Eastern Front, Ulrich is wounded and evacuated. On the train, he strikes up an uneasy friendship with Lacueva-a fanatical volunteer. Ulrich is posted to Normandy, but the Americans capture him.

After the War, Ulrich joins the Foreign Legion who ship him to Indochina. The foreign mercenaries, Ulrich, Lacueva and an Arab, el-Mokrani, fight many jungle battles. In a firefight, the Viets mortally wound Lacueva. A female helicopter pilot, Ishtari, evacuates him and becomes Ulrich's lover.

In the corrupt oriental French colonies, war drags on. Ulrich protects tea plantations but seduces the voluptuous half-caste, Circe. Ulrich must parachute into the jungle camp at Dien Bien Phu. Wounded, Ishtari flies him out. The French lose the Pearl of the East.

In 1955, Ulrich disembarks in Algeria but, when the French guillotine his Arab friend, he quits the Army. Meanwhile in Algeria, Circe joins the reactionary OAS but blows herself up in a bungled terrorist attack.

In 1965, after reporting on the war in Cameroon, Ulrich returns to Vietnam where he encounters his former lovers. Ishtari evacuates wounded GIs but her helicopter is hit. Penelope-now a trauma surgeon-cannot save her. Cassandra protects the hill tribes. Before the communists burn her alive, she reveals the location of her father, Joachim.

Ulrich hunts down his enemy.