Tom misses Scouser, his evacuee friend, who returns to Liverpool. He is soon caught up in the Home Guard-like patrol organised by the Orchard Road Gang. The children have seen soldiers returning from Dunkirk and know that the war is not going well. The evacuees return, but Scouser is not amongst them as he and his family have been killed in the bombing. William, the gang leader, wants to get a German for Scouser, but the children are too shocked to move when a plane crashes and the German pilot struggles out with his clothes on fire. Molly tries to put out the flames but it is too late. A rival gang attack Molly for her actions and Tom comes to her rescue and is injured. Tom and his dad talk about the confusions of war.