Part 1, Search for the Father, Saint-Brieuc Summary

Forty years later, Jacques take a train to visit his father's grave in Saint Brieuc, the French countryside. Jacques lives in Paris. He decides to travel to Saint Brieuc because he promises to do so before visiting his mother back in Algeria. Jacques arrives at the cemetery and asks the caretaker of the location for the soldiers who died in the 1914 French war. The caretaker remembers the name Henri Cormery, a solider who died at the Battle of Marne, Saint Brieuc on October 11, 1914. He takes Jacques to the grave.

Lucie, Jacques' mother, has never seen the grave. That is why she makes Jacques promise to visit it. Jacques wants to get this over with, since he's visiting his mentor in Saint Brieuc. The grave is well-maintained with fresh flowers. Jacques reads the gravestone...