The Prime Minister heads a cabinet divided on the question of either using force against an African state, or referring the matter to the United Nations.
Anthony Steffen, as a young gunman who works as a circus performer, witnesses the killing of some outlaws, carried out by their leader and is credited with the deed.
A Southern soldier in the American Civil War is sent to reconnoiter the enemy positions and becomes trapped beneath a huge pile of rubble by Northern cannon fire.
"In my film I suggest that there is no greater mystery than that of the protagonists. War and Love are simply equated for what they are; the aftermath is inevitable, and a normal human condition, for which like the ancients one can only have pity and understanding.