In the mid-1800's, a small group of farmers, led by the eloquent Laurids Skau, fight to keep the Danish language in the borderland between Denmark and Prussia. But the entire Europe is breaking up, and what starts as a struggle of language, will soon become a struggle of what it means to be Danish and where the border of Denmark is to lie. A struggle which leads to a bloody civil war.

After the war in 1864, Denmark is humiliated and Southern Jutland is lost. Now the Danish minded Southern Jutes must get used to a new life - as Germans. School books are replaced, and Danish songs are banned. But the more the Germans tighten their grip in the hope of making loyal German state citizens out of the Southern Jutes, the stronger become the feeling of unity and the struggle to speak the Danish language and practice the Danish culture.

In 1914, Hell breaks loose in Europe. First World War has begun. From everywhere in Germany, men are sent to the front. Also the men who feel Danish must go to war for a country and a cause they don't feel are theirs. While the men are at war, women like housekeeper Ingeborg must fight to maintain life at home, ever in fear of losing their loved ones at the front.

11th of November 1918 the church bells are ringing all over Europe. The First World War is over and now emerges the opportunity that the Danish minded in the northern part of Germany have been waited for, for years. The border between Denmark and Germany can be moved, but where should it lie, and who decides? The politician H.P. Hansen goes all in on a borderline going north around the city of Flensburg. But he is up against strong forces in both Germany and Denmark with entirely different plans.