 Alain Lefevre is a French boxer in 1920 s Marseilles, France. Alain is forced by local crime boss Lucien Galgani to take a dive in a fight. It turns out that Galgani s girlfriend Katrina is also Alain s ex-fiancé whom he left standing at the alter. But Katrina forgives Alain, and the two hatch a plan to run off to America together. Alain doesn t take a dive in the fight, but just as the escape plan is about to succeed, Alain s friend gets killed, and Katrina is captured by Galgani s men. But Alain has shot and killed Galgani s brother. Desperately needing a new escape plan, Alain signs up for the French Foreign Legion, and is shipped to Africa to help defend French territory against a native Arab rebellion. Along the way, Alain meets some new friends, including an African American who has fled injustice in the United States, a former British Army Major with a gambling problem, and a naive Italian man who wishes to impress his girl back home by returning as a hero. But things will not be easy. The only real way to escape from the Legion is to survive the term of service, and the rebels have them outnumbered. And Galgani has sent his hired thugs into the Legion as well, to find Alain and get revenge for the death of Galgani s brother.