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.

Bert decides that winning the Rondo, an annual wheel barrow race on the cricket field, is a matter of life or death: if he wins, then Joe will be kept safe.