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The story begins with Osmond, a horse transport driver in the British Army, who is evacuated from France to a London hospital in January 1917 because of leg injuries caused by enemy shelling. He is 21 and has been overseas for 16 months delivering supplies to the battlefront.

Osmond is a farmer’s son raised on an isolated farm at the eastern edge of the Yorkshire Wolds, England. His two brothers and father run the business, and Osmond works with horses and horse lads. In this part of England, horse lads are hired on annual contracts from about 14 years of age. Girls of a similar age are recruited as domestic help. His father employs Walter to teach Osmond everything he needs to know about horse management.

Walter belongs to an organisation known as the Wolds Wagoners’ Special Reserve, and Osmond asks if he should join. These are horsemen employed by local farmers who volunteer to serve in the Army if Britain goes to War. His family persuades him not to. The Army calls Walter as soon as World War 1 begins in August 1914.

Osmond is uncertain of what to do. However, when German ships shell the nearby resort of Scarborough, he decides to enlist in the Army. He joins as a horse transport driver because of his specialist skills, which keep him behind trench lines but close enough to know what is happening.

After his hospital recovery, he is assigned to the Royal Field Artillery and returns to France as a member of an artillery company. He experiences his worst fighting and is diagnosed with influenza (Spanish flu) and treated while his artillery brigade is destroyed in battle during the Spring of 1918.

Thereafter, we follow Osmond through the eventual Allies’ victory and demobilisation. The story concludes with Osmond returning home, finding a farm, and meeting Florie, a farmer’s daughter caring for his grandmother.