A Christmas candle /

It is 1939 and all over Britain children are being evacuated from cities and other places of danger to stay in the country which to them is as strange and frightening as a landing on Mars. Eve Armstrong and her little brother are going to take refuge on a quiet farm in Devonshire when Eve sees on the platform outside the railways compartment in which she is travelling, a crowd of children, mostly shabbily dressed. But one boy - Johnny Durrell - in a smart school uniform pulls a face at Eve through the glass and shouts abuse. Later, Eve discovers that Johnny Durrell is living at the next farm to the one to which she has been sent. The two become fast friends and share experiences until Connie from Liverpool appears on the scene. The two girls both want Johnny, but Johnny is indifferent to girls and simply wants to join in the war effort as soon as he is old enough and can become a spitfire pilot.