Forty-five-year old Philippe (Roschdy Zem) is a fire station chief in the southwest of France, near Carcassonne. The summer is hot. Fires break out everywhere. Today Philippe welcomes a new recruit, Bénédicte (Émilie Dequenne, This Is Our Land - SFFF 2017, Not My Type - SFFF 2014), an experienced and dedicated firewoman.  After Philippe, she is the highest ranked officer and not everyone in the brigade is happy to take orders from a woman. It doesn’t help that Bénédicte seems to blunder her first rescue mission, setting a sexist colleague, Xavier (Michael Abiteboul), against her. Tension is raised both in the field and within the brigade. The ironic French title (that can be translated as "Men of Fire") highlights the role of strong women like Bénédicte, the true heroine of the film, who fights not only fires but also the misogynistic culture of the brigade.

The Brigade plunges us into the daily lives of the rural brigade and depicts what it’s like to work in a French “caserne de pompiers,” which basically functions like any American firehouse, with a major difference: French firemen also serve as EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) and are usually first responders for any major accident or medical emergency. We follow the brigade as they go through their daily routine: putting out fires, delivering babies, and saving lives (including, because the action takes place in a small town surrounded by vineyards, the rescue of a farmer who’s fallen into a vat of grapes). Meanwhile, the stoic but kindhearted Philippe is on a personal quest to find the arsonist behind a series of local bush fires plaguing the area.

The Brigade is a gripping ensemble film that revels with documentary-like detail the daily heroism of the firefighters and shows their harrowing ordeals on the job, as well as the impact it has on their private lives.