Le déserteur de mon coeur

During the last half of the 1800's, Michel was a member of some French acrobatic tightrope walkers, but interest in Paris that morning centered on a hot air balloon that a young English girl had inherited from her uncle. When a unruly member from the crowd cuts the rope and Michel throws the ballast at him, he ends up taking an unintended trip over the Alps with the girl. When they finally come down, they discover that France has just declared war on Austria and they are in the middle of a war zone.