Corporal Cortez is tired of the horrible life that he is leading in the mountains of Queretaro, Mexico with the rest of the Mexican conservative troops. He is the smartest person in the group and realizes that the fight is over. The liberals have won in the Mexican Reform War. The liberal side led by President Benito Pablo Juárez García has the support of the United States of America in the Reform War against the Mexican conservatives. Cortez plans to surrender and take the offer of amnesty that President Benito Pablo Juárez García is offering the conservatives who lay down their arms.

After signing the amnesty offer, he travels to Mexico City to look for a job. There he meets a lovely teen girl named Bendita who catches his eye. She will not marry him unless he can find a job to support her and her grandparents. Cortez cannot find a job other than being a soldier once again. He must leave Bendita behind while moving back to his parent's home in a hacienda in Puebla. His friends Jovani and Quintin show up from their victorious triumph at the Battle of Puebla on 5-5-1862 known as the battle of cinco de mayo. Now they are part of the French lead army that is trying to wrestle control of Mexico from President Benito Pablo Juárez García.

Cortez does not want his family or friends to know about his cowardly act. Now Cortez must fight alongside the French led forces in the Battle of Mexico City against the government of President Benito Pablo Juárez García. A twist of fate leads him to the position of general in the French armed forces and the honor of leading the men who will recuperate the stolen Mexican lands of the Mexican American War of 1846. Now he is in California fighting against the United States of America army on the side of Mexico the newest colony of France.