The year is 1939, the eve of war in France. A troop of adolescents in the countryside of Touraine led by the bold beautiful Bertrand, play war games to test their chivalry. Matching Bertrand in beauty is Maite, his cool, remote girlfriend. The others, including the narrator, bask in their leaders' perfection but cannot match them in courage, idealism, or inventiveness. Like the children in Lord of the Flies, the group assaults the boundaries between childhood and adulthood, games ans life, at Bertran's summer retreat, Blue Island.