Margot Bracken, the wife of Ernst Bracken, a German officer serving on the Russian front, returns to the family estate at Brackenfeld in war-torn Germany to live with Ruth, her sister-in-law, and Gladys, her mother-in-law. Gertrude Schneider, the district leader of the youth movement, appoints Margot to be section leader of a group of girls which includes Toni Hall, who is in love with Corporal Heinz Radtke. Only physically perfect women are allowed to marry soldiers in the SS, and therefore, the Reich rejects Toni's marriage to Heinz because she is near-sighted. When Heinz spurns her, Toni hysterically denounces the government and is arrested. She is declared insane and shot as she attempts to rejoin Heinz. Gertrude, who despises Margot for being too lenient with her charges, orders her examined under the ruling that all women must bear children. When Ernst, paralyzed by wounds he received in battle, returns home, Gertrude tries to force Margot to allow her brother-in-law to father her child. Upon learning of the situation, Ernst, humiliated, commits suicide. Incensed by the Nazi atrocities, Margot defies blackout orders and directs an Allied air raid to the location of the hidden munitions works nearby. As an Allied bomb lands on Brackenfeld, Margo rejoices that these raids will lead to the eventual liberation of all degraded European women.