Drafted into the British army, young Tom Beddows leaves his parents and his beloved cocker spaniel and reports for military duty, arriving late because of a German air raid. In training camp, he makes friends with Jack and Arthur. They all wish the war would go away, so they could return to their parents and girlfriends. Finally ordered into combat, a sense of impending doom prompts Tom to write a consoling letter to be delivered to his parents instead of the official military notice. Stoic and fatalistic, he will be among the first troops to land in Normandy at the launch of Operation Overlord, the Allied offensive to push the Nazis out of France.