Compo is selected to travel to France with a group of local WWII veterans, only to have the offer withdrawn when the organisers realize how scruffy he looks. The local ladies take pity on him and collect enough money for him to go, and Truly and Clegg join him for the trip.

Meanwhile, Edie's long-estranged sister Ros shows up in town, ready to make amends with Edie and possibly settle down again. Edie, angry at her for leaving her husband and devastating their mother, isn't interested in reconnecting. In France, the trio has two goals: to release Billy Hardcastle's homing pigeon and to revisit a spot Compo and some of his fellow soldiers camped overnight after a gruelling escape from the Germans. There's just one snag: Compo doesn't remember where it is.