Carve Her Name with Pride

In the early days of World War II, Violette Bushell, a young bilingual woman living in London, meets French Army officer Etienne Szabo. They fall in love and become engaged to be married. Etienne soon sails away for service, setting the stage for a life split by war.

Etienne is killed while fighting in North Africa, leaving Violette to raise their daughter Tania alone. She gives birth to Tania but never sees her father again. After his death, Violette and the baby move into her parents' home.

Because of her linguistic skills, Violette is recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) for clandestine work in Nazi-occupied France. She trains to be a spy and is assigned to field missions. This marks the start of her dangerous wartime career.

On her first mission, Violette is teamed with Captain Tony Fraser, a man she had met socially and admired. They prepare to infiltrate occupied France together. The mission aims to support French Resistance efforts.

Violette arrives by small plane in France and shares a train compartment with curious German soldiers en route to Rouen. The Rouen Resistance network has been betrayed, complicating their work. They press on to contact survivors and coordinate actions.

A garage mechanic, warned that most of the Resistance has been wiped out, informs Szabo that only a few survive. Szabo nevertheless persuades him to help blow up a major railway viaduct. The mission hinges on this risky strike.

Szabo is seized and interrogated by the Gestapo but refuses to divulge information. She is released and later meets Fraser in Paris, where he congratulates her on the viaduct's destruction.

Back in Britain, Szabo reluctantly agrees to another mission under Fraser's command, this time in the Limoges region. She travels again to contact Resistance units and coordinate their actions. The operation is more dangerous and complicated than the first.

During a reconnaissance with a guide, Szabo is drawn into a firefight with German soldiers in the Limoges region. She injures her ankle and is unable to escape; she is eventually captured.

In German captivity, Szabo endures torture but remains defiant, providing no information. She is eventually reunited with fellow female agents Lilian Rolfe and Denise Bloch in a Nazi prison.

As Allied forces advance toward Paris, the women are loaded onto a train bound for Germany. The train is bombed by Allied aircraft, and Szabo chooses to fetch water for male prisoners, including Fraser, rather than escape herself. This act embodies her selflessness.

That night, Szabo and Fraser acknowledge their love for each other. The prisoners are separated, and the three women, including Szabo, are taken to a concentration camp where they are executed.

After the war, Szabo's daughter Tania and her grandparents go to Buckingham Palace where King George VI awards Tania her mother's posthumous George Cross. Fraser and the family later meet again, completing the narrative arc.