It is May 1964. Devastated by the death of his small son, James Butland returns to the 1940 battlefields in France where he served as an 18 year old in the defence of Calais protecting the western flank of the Dunkirk beaches. There he reviews his life, the conflicts of growing up in the interwar years and the approach of war in 1939.On the threshold of going up to Oxford University, war is declared and James is plunged, not unwillingly, into the role of a soldier. Wounded in the defence of Calais in May 1940, he is hidden from the Germans by a French medical student, Agnes, and following a brief affair, she helps him to escape to England in a small boat.James is posted to the bitter campaign in Tunisia where he is again wounded and is discharged from active service. He resolves to replace killing with saving lives and, influenced by Agness example, he chooses to study medicine. Jamess career flourishes in London and later in Cambridge. However his familys new life is shattered by the death of his 9 year old son in a road accident.On a whim during his return to the 1940 battlefields in 1964, James traces Agnes. Their reunion against the background of despair creates new conflicts of conscience but also some prospect of recovery and hope.