Summary

In August, 1919, Mathilde Donnay, who is living at her parents’ vacation home at Capbreton with her caretakers Sylvain and Benedict, receives a letter from a nun. A sergeant lies near death from Spanish influenza and wants to talk to her. Daniel Esperanza had been an exporter of wine, handsome and popular with the ladies. He had gone to the war in 1914. Sylvain takes Mathilde to the hospital to see him. He tells her the story of his encounter with the five men.

On January 6, 1917, Esperanza was told to take the five soldiers to the front line. He was the one who had written and mailed the last letter Mathilde had received from Manech. He tells her the story of escorting the five soldiers to the front along with ten other men he had chosen to accompany him. The first of the condemned men was called...