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Jean-Baptiste Rousse, nicknamed Noble Coeur, a journeyman carpenter in a village in Bigorre, was deported in 1942. On his return, he realizes that his compatriots have let the wood reserves on his building site be stolen. After an altercation with the mayor, he decides to take justice into his own hands and, with the help of his son Roland, cuts down the trees in the communal forest to pay him back. The mayor alerts the police. Noble Coeur takes refuge in the bell tower and, when the mayor refuses to let him bring in his wood, he demolishes it with an axe.