The Colonel Alain de Soissons wants to quit his long service in the Navy with a promotion to vice admiral. He calls, therefore, to go for the war in Spain in command of a ship of the French fleet. The experience in Spain proves, however, more difficult than he expected. Alain was wounded in the Battle of Trocadero in 1823 and the ship's doctor forced to amputate one of his arm. This loss will not be compensated for Alain from the french victory, nor the fact that he will be adorned with the Legion of Honor. On returning to France Alain not only be ashamed to admit his difficulties in everyday, but he will also seize by the suspicion that his wife Juliette feels for him only a feeling of compassion. Juliette will, however, to convince him that she didn't change anything, telling him the story of Bernard Chevalier Captain of the dragons with the body ruined by the scars of wounds received during the Napoleonic campaigns.