In 1944 Lucien Lacombe, a young peasant in the Lot region is refused permission to join the French Resistance. Instead, the opposing "French Gestapo" obtain from him information about an underground leader and recruit him into their organization.Lucien enjoys his power and inclusion as a member of the German Police (Milice française) but soon falls in love with a Jewish girl. Forcing himself upon her family, Lucien becomes personally involved with the very people some of his collaborators and superiors are, in part, employed to oppress.