A collection of short stories set amid the war, portraying hospital wards, field hospitals, and the people who staff and rely on them. Vignettes trace inexperienced volunteers learning nursing tasks, surgeons at dressings, canteen workers, refugees, and children in devastated regions, alternating intimate bedside detail with scenes near Verdun and Château-Thierry. Emphasis lies on practical routines, bodily suffering, quiet courage, exhaustion, and the small acts of care that sustain individuals through chaotic, dangerous conditions.