The Volunteers opens with a celebration immersed in the atmosphere of freedom that symbolized the 60's and 70's, when the Liberalism of the European Left met and united with the Utopian Socialism so successfully represented by the Israeli Kibbutz. Young adults from Europe and the United States came in droves to the kibbutzim and to an environment of freedom, sun, free sex, alcohol and fun. And all they were asked to give in return were a few hours of simple labor. Love blossomed. People got married.

When the party suddenly ended, real-life issues and complicated questions arose relating to religion, nationality, home and residence. Is it possible for someone who came to Israel as a tourist to really belong, to be ready  to pay the price of life under danger, and can Israel ultimately truly be called home?
 
On one hand, the film portrays the stories of Angelica and Margaret, daughters of former Nazi officers, who arrive in Israel carrying with them the emotional burden of Jewish-German relations following the Holocaust. They fall in love with Israelis,accept Israel as their home and embrace Judaism as the national identity for themselves and their children.

The other side of this complex story shows Yossi, the son of a former volunteer and a kibbutz member, and Yochai, who married a Danish volunteer. Both are young men who were born on a kibbutz. However marriage and the desire to follow their spouse or their parents to Europe leads them from their Israeli and Jewish identities.