Adapted from a novel by John Monk Saunders, four pilots from
the world war turn to drinking in Paris and find an eccentric
woman to accompany them.
A plane is shot down in flames but crash lands. Shep (David Manners)
rescues pilot Cary (Richard Barthelmess), whose hands are burned.
The war ends, and they are released by a doctor who says they
are spent. Cary and Shep go to Paris and are joined by fellow
veterans Bill (John Mack Brown) and Francis (Elliott Nugent);
in a bar they meet Nikki (Helen Chandler). They drink, and the
former football star Bill tackles a horse in the street. The reporter
Frink (Walter Byron) fails to get Nikki to leave them. The five
men take Nikki home, where she lets Bill scrub her back. Cary
leaves the others in her sitting room.
The next day the four flyers try to discourage Frink. Cary goes
out, and Nikki goes with him. He tells her that Shep drinks because
of his tic he got in the war. At a cemetery Nikki asks Cary about
Abelard and Heloise. Nikki and Cary exchange heart-shaped stones,
and she says she wants to help him. When Nikki says at least she
found names for her turtles, Cary drops his stone. Shep finds
out what she said and laughs, and Cary says he is going away from
Nikki. Cary plans to go to Portugal, and the others decide to
go too. Francis is left with her turtles, but he gives them to
a porter. They board the train with Cary. Nikki goes to bed and
declines help in getting undressed. She screams about Frink, and
Cary tells him to get out. When Frink refuses, Cary knocks him
down. Frink apologizes.
In Lisbon they drink and go to a bull fight. Bill jumps into
the ring, and the bull gores him. Cary, Nikki, and Shep visit
Bill before he goes to the hospital. At a shooting gallery Cary,
Shep, and Nikki are having fun, but Francis shoots with precision.
Cary objects to Frink pointing a gun at Nikki. Frink is threatening
to shoot Cary when Francis shoots Frink and runs off. In a car
Nikki sees that Shep is bleeding. Shep recalls the plane crash
and dies. On a train Cary shows Nikki his letter to Shep's mother.
Cary says that Shep gave his life to the war. Cary says that comradeship
was all they had left, but now that is gone. Nikki and Cary comfort
each other.
This drama reflects how the war caused some veterans to
feel lost afterward.