Set during the Thirty Years' War, in the first half of the 17th century: Anna Fierling, also called Mother Courage, is a merchant with a wagonload of food and goods. She stays out of politics, following the armies as they move back and forth across Central Europe, and does not bemoan war's injustices. She is passionately committed to her three children and tries to protect them. But one after the other, she loses them to the war from which she profits....