The book begins on Tommo's first day of school, when he is really nervous. His brother protects him from the bullies. He is new to the school, so his freind Molly helps him out. She is his best friend, except his brother. The three of them hangout alot and become very close. After something Charlie does, Molly isn't allowed to hang out with them anymore. Charlie and Molly become in love with each other, and they have Tommo bring the letters back and forth. After a couple of months of that, Molly came to their house, and said that she was carrying Charlies baby. So after that, they got married and lived at Charlies Mothers house. After Charlie came back from work his whole family was there, and said that the army was looking for recruits, and that the landlord said that he had to join up, or they would loose their house. So Charlie joined up with Tommo, after he convinced his mom to let him go. After they arrived in France, they had the worst drill sargent anyone could have. He gave them tons of Punishments. After Tommo, Charlie, and some other guys went up to the front. They did this a couple of times, and sometimes they had gas attacks, or mortars coming in. In the end, they had to go for a final push, and when this happened, Tommo got shot and was bleeding badly. The platoon found an old trench were they hid in. They were very close to the German Trench, and wanted to make a final push, and Charlie said that he was staying with his brother. The Sargent said that he could be put to death infront of the firing squad for cowardice. He said that he would take that risk, and would rather die than let his brother be alone. So after they got back to their trench, Charlie was arrested and put infornt of the firing squad. After his death, Tommo had to stay alive becausehe promised to take care of Molly and Little Tommo.
