His name is Louis-Charles Bouteloup. A recent graduate of the Faculty of Medicine, he has been sent to the front lines at Fleury in January 1916 as a military surgeon. He will be assisted there by men of all backgrounds: a priest, a pimp, a young man of means, a union member, a photographer, and others. Their nicknames are Satan, Mack, Kosher, Lemony and Element. None of them have chosen to fight, but they are all risking their lives to make the war a little less inhuman. From Fleury to Chemin des Dames via Bois des Caures and the Somme, Officer Candidate Bouteloup will experience horror on a daily basis.