In May1978, a gang of communist guerillas from adjacent Angola attack Kolwezi, a mining town in Katanga, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Belgian Congo). The invaders take hostages the Europeans who work for the Belgian mining business and the Blacks who dwell in the town, and begin a bloodbath, shooting both Europeans and Africans. Due to the fact that many of the Europeans are French, the French decide to mount a counter-offensive and dispatch a Foreign Legion Paratrooper Regiment. Delbart, a former non-commissioned officer who was about to return to France with his African wife and child, Damrémont, Delbart's replacement, Bia, a Zairian doctor, and Annie, an American married to a Belgian engineer, as well as Non-com Legion officer Federico and the French Ambassador and Military Attaché, are all featured in the film.