A shell shocked veteran returns home to Canada where he is assigned to help the on-going recruitment drive needed to feed the war machine. As he recovers from his experiences he falls for a war nurse whose younger brother cannot enlist due to a medical condition. Desperate to serve his country David uses a fraudulent medical certificate and joins the army. Michael feels he has no option but to follow him back to the Western Front and protect him from harm. Both men are dispatched to the front line of Passchendaele - a battle that became synonymous with the misery of the First World War and claimed over 600,000 casualties.