A German nurse, Helga (Maria Schell), is kidnapped by Yugoslavian partisans. Their doctor has died and they need another one. Helga has medical training, so she's forced to go with them. At first, she goes with them unwillingly. She doesn't like them and they don't like her. As time goes by, however, she begins to see them as they really are: not bandits, but as human beings that need her help. And while they are going through mountains and crossing rivers, a new understanding of the people and the land dawn on her. Sometimes they are attacked by German forces and Helga begins to suspect that maybe things are not so simple as she once thought. She doesn't know anymore where she belongs.