During a campaign in the Middle East, six men are lost in
the Syrian desert, owing to the breakdown of their tank. They are Ben Joseph,
the thoughtful Jewish sergeant; Donnington, a university man and a cynic; the
Cockney, Elvin, an old soldier; Shaw, a solemn Yorkshireman; Hughes, an
excitable Welshman; and young George, from a farm. A German plane spots them
and sprays them with its machine-gun, wounding George, who has a premonition of
death. As they sleep, the centuries roll back to 703 BC and we see the same men
forming a caravan taking on different roles. We return to the present, the
wounded George and a final reckoning.