This is the story of an eight year old boy who lives with a 'Mrs. Atkins' while his mother serves as a soldier overseas (his father died in the war). One night while Mrs Atkins is downstairs partying with her gentleman friend, Joseph decides to go for a walk. While at the other end of the street there is an air raid. A bomb drops directly on their block of flats, killing all inside. Joseph is imagined dead. What follows is a trek across the country as Joseph tries to find the last home he knew with his mother, a little white cottage set on the edge of a moor in Yorkshire...