Starting in the 1600s, French settlers migrate to northeastern America, to a land called Acadia. They quickly become pawns, caught between two superpowers—the French and the English.

After several generations in America, they evolve into Acadians and no longer consider themselves French. In 1755, their worst fears are realized. They are evicted from their beloved Acadia—a clear case of ethnic cleansing with all the brutality that term implies.

Scattered to the four winds, they struggle to survive. A large group eventually settles in Louisiana and gives rise to the Cajuns. Others find their way back to Acadia and nearby lands in New England and Eastern Canada.

In the 1960s, a young Cajun from Louisiana and a young Acadian from New Hampshire meet in the Army and become friends until the Vietnam War tears them apart.