Tyneside ship-builder Joe Maddison lost his faith in the trenches at the Somme in 1916. Now that World War II has begun, he is too old to enlist alongside his son and son-in-law, and is also in a reserved occupation so, after his wife Polly has left him for a sailor, he joins the Home Guard with his friends Marxist Eddie and cynical, wise-cracking Harry. Harry's anti-...