Laurel & Hardy join the Foreign Legion to enable Hardy to forget a tragic love affair.  But the girl who jilted him seems to have been the sweetheart of all the other Legionnaires—including the Commandant!  Reasoning that she is not worth their sacrifice, they announce their intention of resigning, and earn the enmity of their commanding officer.  However, they redeem themselves when Riffs attack the fort, and they save the day by sprinkling tacks in the path of the marauding Arabs.

Four reels was a clumsy length for Laurel & Hardy, and they never repeated it.  It was not long enough to allow for a story line or to justify worthwhile production values, and at the same time it was far too long for loosely-connected slapstick.  In re-issue, it was often cut to three and even two reels without any marked effect on continuity.

The plot seems to have been inspired by two contemporary films:  Josef von Sternberg's Dietrich-Cooper vehicle Morocco, and the Laurence Olivier - Erich von Stroheim Friends and Lovers.  However, there is no serious attempt to parody any of the eminently spoofable plot elements in those films, and the film is merely a matter of flat, predictable, and very slow-paced slapstick.  The opening sequences, when Hardy receives word of his rejection—and wrecks a piano in the process—are the only ones where their material is in any way up to standard.