Bert is the second oldest man in Britain, and a film is being made about his life and his village. He takes us back to the summer of 1914, when he was 12 years old.

It is January 1915; the Middleton farm has fallen on very hard times, and John is drinking heavily. A strange incident then takes place at the manor house...

Conscription is introduced for the first time in British history. Call up papers are delivered throughout the village, and soldiers requisition Big Molly.